Young entrepreneur hails Trade ministry's licensing process

AMMAN — After benefitting from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply's programme to officially register home-based businesses, Mumin Alzubi embarked on a path towards successful entrepreneurship.

The 24-year-old Ramtha resident started his business to print designs on various products at home, later acquiring a licence for his home-based project.

Alzubi said he had heard about the possibility of issuing a home business licence through an announcement from Ramtha Municipality, and thus he decided to make his work legit, according to the ministry’s project goal to legitimise home businesses and support people by allowing them to work from home.

The ministry's project covers four categories: intellectual careers such as consultation, studies and design; handicrafts; food preparation such as making jameed (the base ingredient of mansaf, Jordan’s national dish); and house maintenance services.

Alzubi's work focuses on printing designs on mugs, phone cases, T-shirts and other products. When he registered the home-based business, Alzubi said he was still in Tawjihi (General Secondary Education Certificate Examination), and had been working on design, learning Photoshop skills and enrolling in workshops on AutoCad and 3D Max software. 

He said that after three to four years of working at home, he was able to register and open a shop at Irbid City Centre.

The licensing was “very easy”, he said, noting that he has to pay around JD40 to renew the licence every year, with the USAID paying it on his behalf the first time.

"It only took a few hours to finish the paperwork and obtain the licence. When they understand it is a home business, they simplify things even more," he told The Jordan Times over the phone on Wednesday.

“The licence truly helped me a lot to expand my business and have my own company, which I named 'Doctor Design'," Alzubi said, adding that the papers and documents related to the home business licence are all official and treat it as an actual business, making it easier to make connections and to expand the business later on. 

When Alzubi was able to open another branch in Ramtha, the comptroller had asked for the home business licence instead of the first branch's licence, he said. 

"When I was ready to have my own brand and trademark, I had to go to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply and through my home business licence I was able to register the logo with the name Doctor Design after paying around JD800 to JD900," he said, adding "this is not much, as it helps me to have my own brand and the rights to the name."

He is also planning to open branches in other countries, such as China and the UAE, after already opening a branch in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt. 

"It all started with the home-based business licence, which has grown outside the home on local and regional levels and hopefully international. I encourage anyone to register their business and enjoy the benefits it offers," he said.