Intel Capital to invest in two digital content companies in Jordan

The company also pledged to expand its World Ahead program through collaborations with the Jordanian government and other local and regional organizations.

In support of Jordan's ICT vision, Intel Capital will invest in two Jordan-based digital content companies: Jeeran and ShooFeeTV. The announcement was made in the presence of His Excellency Eng. Basem Al-Rousan, Jordanian Minister of Information & Communications Technology (MoICT). The amount of each investment was not disclosed.

Part of the $50m Intel Capital Middle East and Turkey Fund , this initiative represents Intel Capital's first investments in Jordan, and follows four previous Intel Capital investments across the Middle East in the past six months. The funding will be used to help both companies pursue their regional growth and development plans as well as extend their product offerings.

His Excellency Eng. Basem Al-Rousan, Jordanian Minister of Information & Communications Technology said that Intel's investment is a testament to the capability and potential of the Jordanian ICT sector.

He particularly outlined the importance of the Content Industry as a main driver of internet penetration, especially as it relates to local and Arabic content.

Al-Rousan also spoke to Jordan's offering as a development and support destination of choice, highlighting the key role companies like Jeeran and ShooFeeTV play to that end.

He also valued the partnership MoICT has with Intel, referring to their important contribution to the advancement of the Kingdom's e-readiness.

Gordon Graylish, vice president Intel Europe Middle East and Africa, said:

"Intel is dedicated to the pursuit of educational, economic and technological growth and advancement in a bid to achieve overall community enrichment in Jordan and the region."

Graylish added, "Our investments in Jeeran and ShooFeeTV are directly in line with our strategy to continue supporting local entrepreneurship and encouraging local content creation in the Middle East."

The companies benefiting from Intel Capital's investment are:

Jeeran: The first User Generated online community to provide Arab users with the latest web technologies and the means to communicate and connect. It is currently the largest user-generated content site in the Arab world, reaching 1 million members and 7 million unique visitors per month.

ShooFeeTV: A content provider and aggregator of Arab satellite channel listings which centralize information for more than 120 channels including programming information, celebrity news, pictures and video clips with 200,000 entries increasing daily.

Intel also announced today it had achieved a key milestone by reaching 60,000 teachers trained on how to apply technology to improve classroom learning as part of the Intel Teach program. Intel celebrated the event with the Jordanian Minister of Education, His Excellency Dr. Tayseer Al-Nahar.

The Kingdom was one of the first countries in the region to adopt the Intel Teach program since 2003. Intel Teach program in Jordan covers three main trainings; Intel Teach Essentials, Thinking with Technology and the newly launched Intel Teach Advanced training and Online collaboration program which is a complete Arabic online training platform for teachers and educators.

The program comes in alignment with the Education Reform for Knowledge Economy, an initiative by His Majesty King Abdullah II to upgrade the quality of education in Jordan enabling teachers and students to develop their talents and aptitudes to contribute in the knowledge economy. Intel Teach has trained over 6 million teachers worldwide, more than 660,000 of them are in the Middle East Turkey and Africa region.

As part of its Higher Education programs, and under the patronage of His Excellency Dr. Wajeeh Oweis, President of Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST), represented by the Vice President Dr. Mahmoud Al-Sheyyab, Intel announced that JUST is the 1000th university to join the Intel Academic Community and has launched a multi-core laboratory equipped with Intel's latest technology.

Intel Academic Community delivers cutting edge parallel programming and visual computing curriculum to universities worldwide. Through its higher education programs, Intel assists universities in ensuring that the next generation of software engineers has the necessary design skills to keep a competitive advantage. On the occasion, Dr. Mazen Kharbutly, professor at the Information Technology Department, received a laptop as a recognition award.

Intel, the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live.