"Palma among the 30 fastest growing Jordanian companies"

Released by Main St. Communications

Press Release
Amman, May 22nd 2011

In an attempt to outline the region’s entrepreneurial businesses, the international AllWord Network ranked Palma amongst the 30 fastest growing Jordanian companies.

Founded in 1997, Palma was ranked 10th due to its sound financial performance and the growth rates the company achieved during the last 3 years, in addition to their work methodology and constant endeavor to make available the best international consulting methodologies and practices for customers in MENA.

In his comment, Chairman of the board, Mr. Khaled Kilani said, “We consider this selection a crowning achievement for our successful history in the consulting and training sector especially that it came subsequent to Tamara Abdel Jaber, Palma’s co-founder and executive board member, being chosen amongst the 100 most powerful Arab women in 2011 by Arabian Business magazine.”

He added, “This sequence of accomplishments reflects Palma’s strength and distinguished leadership. It confirms its healthy work methodology, ideas, and its team’s capabilities in consulting, who are doing their best effort to elevate the company to the regional status it deserves.

From her side, Tamara commented on Palma being chosen as one of the fastest growing companies in Jordan, “Being part of the prestigious Jordan Fast Growth 30 is tantamount to an international certificate for Palma’s capabilities, achievements and dedication towards its customers. . We are proud of this certificate, its substance, and all its positive connotations, and we will always endeavor in Palma to advance the presence of Jordanian consulting firms in the region.”

She added, “Palma managed, via its vast expertise and network, to serve many of the region’s sectors. Palma’s scientific methods, international work standards, and applications ability to meet customers’ needs were the leading reasons for this success,” pointing to various vital projects that Palma executed during the last few years in the Banking & Finance, Industrial, Oil & Gas, Real Estate, Government, and Telecommunication sectors.

Abdel-Jaber illustrated that Palma’s selection amongst the 30 fastest growing Jordanian companies nominates Palma for the 500 fastest growing Arab companies list.

Noting that the 500 fastest growing Arab companies aims at doubling the economic value of these companies in the next 5 years to create more job opportunities and establish innovative companies with creative ideas that can compete on a global scale.

MENA is the second region in the world, after the USA, to have this program implemented. AllWorld Network is applying international standards in the process of evaluating these winners. Companies in the lists are expected to be the center of attention of the entire world, as well as attracting investments, expertise, and growth opportunities; what AllWorld network named “Visible Economy”.

"Tamara Abdel Jaber among the 100 Most powerful Arab Women"

Press Release
Amman, 2011

Arabian Business magazine placed the Jordanian executive, Tamara Abdel Jaber, Institute of Management Consultants and Trainers – Jordan (IMC-Jordan) board member and treasurer, in its 100 Most Powerful Arab Women 2011 list.

Abdel Jaber, co-founder and executive board member of the Jordan-based, MENA business and information technology consulting firm Palma, was chosen for her creativity, innovation, entrepreneurial spirit, social responsibility and contribution to her community, as well as consulting experience, and successful career, which she has employed in assisting a large number of enterprises across the MENA region in strategic management and implementation, operational excellence, change management, and smarter investments in technology.

In her comment, Abdel Jaber, “Being included in such a list, by an outstanding media outlet is overwhelming. Personally, I consider this a crowning achievement of my years of work and perseverance in servicing private and public institutions. There’s no doubt that this will have a positive impact on my professional performance and will motivate me to contribute more to the youth in my community and continue to supply the regional and Arab markets with international experiences and methodologies.”

Published by ITP Group, Arabian Business magazine ranked Abdel Jaber 39th in the list that included executive women from various sectors including art, media, business, and politics, HE Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi ranking 1st.

Abdel Jaber is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Management Consultant. She is a member of the Young Arab Leaders, a member in the Business and Professional Women Association-Amman (PBWA), and the international organization Women Corporate Directors (WCD), which is the only global membership organization and community of Women Corporate Directors who focus on critical governance issues as well as emerging business trends, and support their members serve as directors of public or large private company boards.

On the other hand, the Chairman of the Board of IMC-Jordan Dr. Hamdallah Mubarak praised the recognition of Tamara on the Arabian Business’s list, saying, “This proves the potentials of the Jordanian youth, and their ability to actively participate in economic development. As a member of the board of IMC-Jordan, we congratulate Tamara and all the members for this outstanding achievement.”

He added, “Abdel Jaber is keen on participating in global events, showcasing her innovative and entrepreneurial ideas that reflect the civilized image of this region and the management consulting sector in Jordan. Her invitation and attendance of the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship in Washington last April, in recognition of her role in sparking business innovation in Jordan, enriched the event.”

Before that Tamara was selected to take part in the 2009 Fortune/ U.S. State Department Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership where she was mentored by c-level executives at Accenture in New York and Chicago. She participated at the 2009 Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in San Diego, USA and spoke on how international investors can improve their opportunities for success in the MENA region through better understanding of the region’s history, culture, religion and various habits. She also participated as a member of the official Middle East delegation to the Global Women’s Forum in Deauville, France in Oct 2009.

"Jordan Ahli Bank Partners with Palma – IDS Scheer to Adopt their ARIS Platform"

Press Release
Amman, May 31st 2010

Leading financial institution Jordan Ahli Bank has partnered with Palma, the preferred partner in the Middle East for the renowned software development company IDS Scheer, to implement their ‘ARIS platform in the design, optimization, and later management of the bank’s enterprise architecture.

This initiative comes as part of a large-scale IT transformation strategy the bank is implementing, which seeks to further bolster the capabilities of its IT infrastructure by creating a solid operating model and implementing enterprise architecture. This will allow the bank to serve its clients more efficiently and will create an adaptable, modernized foundation for future development. Jordan Ahli Bank is the first financial institution in Jordan to implement such a progressive strategy, which is why the bank is levering on the experience of Palma and IDS Scheer to document its entire enterprise architecture.

Enterprise architecture is a rigorous description of the structure of an enterprise, its decomposition into subsystems, the relationships between the subsystems, the relationships with the external environment, the terminology to use, and the guiding principles for the design and evolution of an enterprise. This bridges the gap between strategy, processes, and systems. The new enterprise architecture foundation will ensure that all IT investments and new projects are aligned with the bank’s business vision and objectives will support its business slogan ‘the power of change’.

The ARIS Platform is a key tool used to support today's global businesses, offering a complete suite of web-based utilities to document, analyze, implement, and optimize an organization’s enterprise architecture, thus, offering a single storage area for such documentation. This enables business excellence and builds grounds for continuous improvement efforts throughout an organization’s internal enterprise architecture management team. Furthermore, Jordan Ahli Bank will enjoy the benefit of having a transparent and efficient environment, since all aspects of the enterprise are documented, optimized, and managed in a single repository.

Commenting on their collaboration with Palma, Mr. Samer Abu Zayed – Deputy CEO for Group IT & Enterprise Programme at Jordan Ahli Bank said: “Our relationship with Palma has evolved over many years, continually growing stronger as we collaborate on new projects, utilizing and benefiting from their leading consulting skills in business process reengineering and business performance improvement. Their ARIS platform will help us build a new business operating model, which will serve as the basis for any future upgrades or changes in our core banking system. We are utilizing cutting edge technologies to better service our clients and to achieve our overall business and strategic objectives.”

“This represents an outstanding milestone for both Jordan Ahli Bank and Palma, and is considered an important addition to Palma’s client regional achievements—especially in the Banking industry,” said Palma’s Chairman Mr. Khaled Kilani. “Today, more than ever, larger financial institutions must implement a process-oriented approach to maximize efficiency and ensure the success of new business initiatives. We are confident that ARIS will provide Jordan Ahli Bank with the necessary IT foundation to create a solid business operating model positioned for long-term growth.”

"Jordanian Entrepreneur Promotes Future Leadership" 

Palma co-founder Tamara Abdel-Jaber is active in world business forums

By M. Scott Bortot
Staff Writer

Press Release
Washington, April 28th 2010

The 2009 Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit included some of the world’s top business and government leaders to discuss the event’s theme: Betting on the Future.

Jordan’s Tamara Abdel-Jaber joined former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, billionaire investor Warren Buffet, Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz and Xerox chief executive Ursula Burns at the three-day event held in San Diego, California.

For her part at the summit, Abdel-Jaber participated in the panel titled “Global Connections: Extraordinary Mentees Help us Navigate the Developing World.” The panel addressed challenges faced by leaders and entrepreneurs in developing countries, especially women.

It turns out that Abdel-Jaber is well-qualified to speak on such a panel.

Abdel-Jaber is a co-founder and an executive board member of business and information technology consulting firm Palma. She oversees strategy, corporate governance, performance management and business development.

The Obama administration invited Abdel-Jaber to attend the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship in Washington April 26–27 in recognition of her role in sparking business innovation in Jordan.

Founded in 1997, Amman-based Palma delivers strategic management business consulting services to large and medium organizations in Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, Sudan and Qatar. Palma continues to see major growth in its long-term relationships with worldwide companies IDS Scheer, Oracle and SAP.

With more than 10 years of experience in leading an entrepreneurial start-up in Jordan, Abdel-Jaber added a lot to the Fortune panel.

“Ms. Abdel-Jaber emphasized that investors should do their homework in terms of understanding the local culture, history, customs and religion, to realize successful investment,” said an Institute of Management Consultants and Trainers (IMC) press release about Abdel-Jaber’s panel contribution.

Abdel-Jaber is an elected member of the Jordan-based IMC, an organization dedicated to upgrading management consulting and training.

Leading up to the Fortune summit, Abdel-Jaber took part in the 2009 Fortune/U.S. State Department Global Women’s Mentoring Partnership. The annual program gathered 32 young women from 23 developing countries to shadow American women leaders.

Abdel-Jaber is active in empowering future generations of Arabs and Jordanians.

As a member of Young Arab Leaders, Abdel-Jaber is helping to promote a more positive future for the region. Young Arab Leaders is a Dubai-based organization with a mandate to spread dynamic leadership values and foster future Arab leaders to contribute to regional development.

Abdel-Jaber is also empowering women business professionals as a member of Amman’s Business and Professional Women’s Association.

Abdel-Jaber played a role in founding Palma Academy in 2005. The academy works with business leaders to offer certification programs in project management, business process re-engineering and the Six Sigma management strategy.

“We are building this academy because we care about our clients’ success and we listen to them,” Abdel-Jaber told AMEInfo.com.

"U.S Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship"

Press Release
Amman, April, 2010 

Thirteen Jordanian participants are scheduled to depart for Washington, D.C. in coming days to participate in the April 26-27 Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship, hosted by the U.S. departments of State and Commerce.  The summit was announced during President Obama’s June 4, 2009 speech to the Muslim world in Cairo.  It underscores the President’s commitment to pursuing a more comprehensive engagement with Muslim-majority countries and Muslim communities around the world. 

The Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship will highlight the importance of entrepreneurship, job creation and community development.  It will bring together approximately 250 successful entrepreneurs from more than fifty countries; identify ways to advance economic and social entrepreneurship; build networks among stakeholders in entrepreneurship; and provide an opportunity to establish partnerships that advance entrepreneurship. The Summit emphasizes the President’s broader aims of supporting entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic opportunity at home and abroad.  In addition to remarks by President Obama, the Summit will consist of several moderated plenary sessions on key issues and challenges for advancing entrepreneurship, including: technology and innovation, access to capital, unleashing women and youth entrepreneurship, mentoring and networking, fostering a culture of entrepreneurship, promoting and enabling business, and social entrepreneurship.

The eleven Jordanian delegates are:  Rami Al-Karmi, CEO CDI Arabic Region (SHABAKAT); Tamara Abdel Jaber, co-founder and an executive board member at Palma; Dr. Wissam Rabadi, Executive Director of the Arab Science and Technology Foundation; Iman Mutlaq, Owner & CEO of SIGMA Investments; Anas  Rimawi, Managing Partner – Catalyst Private Equity (Cleantech); Samih Toukan, CEO Jabber Internet Group; Mansour Mansour, the Founder and CEO of Javna Wireless Software Solutions; Munqeth Mehyer, Chairman and Jordanian Director of EcoPeace/ Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME); Reem Bsaiso, CEO of World Links Arab Region and World Links International; Salah El Tayeh, CEO of Terra Vertis; Mohammed Khawaja, Executive Director of Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship; and Omar Hamarneh,  Chief Executive Officer of El Hassan Science City.

Additionally, serving as panelists at the summit are Jordanian participants Soraya Salti, senior vice-president Middle East and North Africa Injaz Al Arab and Fadi Ghandour, founder and CEO, ARAMEX International.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is providing cost-sharing support to participants for travel. Supporting entrepreneurship is a vital part of USAID’s Economic Growth assistance program, which includes initiatives in microfinance, home-based businesses, support to NGOs, exchange programs, skills and workforce development, and policy work to strengthen the enabling environment of SMEs. USAID’s programs place particular emphasis on increasing opportunities for women and youth.

"Palma Supports Al Hilal Bank with its Business Process Management Using ARIS Platform Products of IDS Scheer"

Press Release
Abu Dhabi, February 1st, 2010

Palma, the Middle East preferred partner of IDS Scheer—the leading provider of business process excellence services and tools—recently announced that Al Hilal Bank has relied on Palma’s consulting experts to design, optimize, and later manage its business process interdependencies.

With the creation of a business process platform, Al Hilal Bank, a leading Islamic bank and financial services provider, has laid the foundation for the standardization of business processes across branches and units, the consolidation of various IT systems and the delivery of Islamic banking products with transparent and effective underlying processes.

Al Hilal Bank aims to raise the positive profile of Islamic banking. It has the vision to set new standards that re-define Islamic banking. This has led the bank's continued growth during the past year. In order to achieve higher levels of standardization and consolidation of business processes and IT systems, the bank made the decision to create a tool and methodology-based Business Process Management system. The project is supported by Palma whose consultants are deploying ARIS Platform tools and the ARIS Value Engineering methodology.

"We are combining all process information into one BPM platform with the aid of ARIS products and method consulting by Palma. This enables the creation and implementation of "best practice" processes, as well as consolidating existing IT systems," explains one of Al Hilal Bank officials. "The creation of our process management framework gives Al Hilal Bank a transparent and effective design, and better management and control of business processes."

A key advantage of Al Hilal Bank’s process orientation is that the bank has a clearly defined BPM method for the introduction of new systems. This ensures synchronization between process design and system implementation, as well as process-oriented documentation, which enables continued traceability even after the end of a project.

"With the ARIS-based products and methodology, Al Hilal Bank has successfully created a cornerstone for the group-wide implementation of BPM," states Tamara Abdel-Jaber, CEO of Palma.

“Cairo Amman Bank to rely on Palma and IDS Scheer for Business Process Excellence”

Press Release
Amman, January 10th, 2010

Palma, the Middle East preferred partner of IDS Scheer—the leading provider of business process excellence services and tools—recently announced that Cairo Amman Bank has selected the ‘ARIS Platform’ to design, optimize, and later manage its business process interdependencies.

As one of the leading banks in the Levant region, Cairo Amman Bank will leverage Palma, IDS Scheer and the ARIS Platform, to build its business process management team and document its core business processes throughout the bank. This deal between Cairo Amman Bank and Palma represents an outstanding milestone for both organizations and is considered an important addition to the list of Palma customers—especially in the Banking industry.

The ARIS Platform is used to support today's global businesses, offering a complete suite of Web-based tools to document, analyze, implement, and optimize inter- and intra-company business processes—worldwide. Cairo Amman Bank’s interaction with the ‘ARIS Business Architect’ will identify the bank's process architecture and the organization of its internal business process management team; furthermore, this interaction with such a tool will enable business excellence and build grounds for continuous improvement efforts throughout the Bank’s internal business process management team.

"Today, more than ever, banks such as this large banking institution must use a process-oriented approach to maximize efficiency and ensure the success of new business initiatives," said Khaled Kilani, Chairman of Palma.

“Palma’s CEO Speaks at the 2009 Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit”

Press Release
San Diego, USA -  October 2009

After her selection and successful participation in the Fortune/ US State Department Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership in the USA in May 2009, Palma’s CEO Ms. Tamara Abdel-Jaber was invited to take part and speak at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit that was held in San Diego, USA on September 15th.

The Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit is an extraordinary opportunity to spend three days with the most prominent women leaders in business, philanthropy, government, education, and the arts. The premiere gathering of its kind, the Summit is by invitation only and features a unique format: no speeches, all lively panel discussions, on-stage interviews, and interactive breakout sessions. The theme for this year was: Betting on the Future. The Summit discussed ideas about the key challenges—technological, geopolitical, and social—that are reshaping our organizations and our world. The program is built around five pillars: Leadership, Innovation, Finance and the Economy, Global Connections, and The Common Good.

Ms. Abdel-Jaber’s salon was entitled “Global Connections: Extraordinary Mentees Help us Navigate the Developing World”. It addressed some of the key challenges that leaders and entrepreneurs face in developing countries, especially women leaders, and what international investors look for when approaching the markets of the developing countries. Ms. Abdel-Jaber emphasized that investors should do their homework in terms of understanding the local culture, history, customs and religion, to realize successful investment. The session was moderated Pat Mitchell, President and CEO, The Paley Center for Media.

With a record turnout and the lowest cancellation rate ever, in 11 years of convening the Summit (a positive sign for the recovery of the economy), the Summit also have a record number of “list” women; that is, leaders who made the 2009 Most Powerful Women rankings.

Speakers at the Summit included such renowned figures as Carol Bartz – CEO of Yahoo!, Ursula Burns – CEO of XEROX, Warren Buffett – Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Condoleezza Rice – Stanford University, and Sharon Allen – Chairman of the Board at Deloitte.