Jordan Business Gateway USA

A Jordanian SME selling to the U.S. must sequence entity formation, an EIN, business banking, HTS classification, customs bonds, FDA or MoCRA registration, insurance, tax nexus, 3PL placement and marketplace onboarding. No single barrier is prohibitive; the cumulative complexity, sequencing risk and lack of a trusted navigator are what deter entry. No existing actor combines U.S. legal presence, Jordan-specific recruitment, end-to-end execution and accountability for SME outcomes: the U.S. Commercial Service promotes U.S. exporters, SelectUSA serves investment-scale projects, and JEDCO's programs are Jordan-side and grant-oriented. No quantified waiting-list data for U.S.-entry services by Jordanian SMEs exists — an honest UNKNOWN that the demand gate is designed to resolve.

A U.S.-domiciled, independently governed fee-for-service nonprofit (hybrid at maturity) delivering a nine-to-twelve-month cohort program: diagnostic and category selection, entity and banking packages, the full compliance bundle (FDA registration, U.S. Agent, FSVP where food applies, MoCRA listing, labeling review, APHIS screening), import operations setup, insurance placement, channel launch on marketplaces or through B2B distributor matchmaking, and two trade-show appearances. Launch categories are Dead Sea cosmetics and skincare, gourmet food specialties, crafts and home goods, and textiles beyond apparel; pharmaceuticals are reserved for a B2B regulatory-desk track only. Pricing is subsidized, published, and open to verification.

Jordan: diversified export composition beyond the apparel concentration, first-time exporters reaching U.S. revenue, and export-sector jobs. The U.S.: importers, distributors and consumers gaining access to verified Jordanian consumer-goods categories. The diaspora: retail and gifting channels, distribution partnerships and trade-show participation as first customers and connectors.

The operator is an independent U.S. entity with an independent board including Jordanian-American business figures; Jordan-side recruitment is delegated to JEDCO and Jordan Exports as referral partners under arm's-length service contracts, not as principals. Any Royal Hashemite Court role is limited to named sponsorship of the concept, with no operational funding or direction until a DOJ FARA advisory opinion is obtained. The U.S. Commercial Service and SelectUSA are engaged as hosts of fairs and the Investment Summit, not as service providers.

Not yet authorized

Direct out-of-pocket cost per company is roughly $3,400–$12,000; fully loaded cost is roughly $25,000–$40,000 per company, and a 25-company pilot year runs about $750K–$1.1M — all modeled figures carrying scenario labels, not budgets. The base-case impact scenario is about $5M per year in incremental exports (50 firms assisted × 50% conversion × $200K average sales), equal to 0.16% of U.S. imports from Jordan. Fees would cover 30–50% of delivery cost at pilot stage, with an earned-revenue ratio target of at least 40% by year three.

Scenario estimate — not a commitment, not a forecast.

Economic impact scenarios

Demand gate: at least 25 signed SME letters of intent before any cohort spend. First 100 days: FARA advisory opinion request, U.S. entity and independent board, operator hiring, a JEDCO arm's-length MoU and cohort-1 intake screening. Year one: cohort-1 launched with at least 60% live on a sales channel by month nine, and earned revenue at or above 25% of delivery cost. Discontinue if fewer than 40% of cohort-1 achieve a first U.S. sale within 12 months, if cost per successful company exceeds $60K with no declining trend, if the FARA posture cannot be regularized, or if a material compliance incident irrecoverably damages the platform's standing.

Companies with live U.S. sales; median first-year U.S. revenue per company; time from intake to first sale (target under 180 days); declining cost per company; zero material compliance incidents; earned-revenue ratio; diaspora-channel share of first-year sales.

FARA exposure if Royal Court funding or direction were ever accepted — mitigated by independence, a written no-direction funding policy and counsel review. Banking freezes stranding cohort cash — mitigated by dual fintech accounts and a treasury procedure. A participant's FDA or FSVP non-compliance damaging the cohort brand — mitigated by pre-vetted U.S. Agents, compliance audits and graduation contingencies. Marketplace fee erosion of margins — mitigated by unit-economics screening at intake and a parallel B2B channel.

• concept — not funded
• Not yet authorized

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