SmartGreenEcos partner IWDT is visiting dairy SMEs across Jordan to understand their operational needs and bring real business insight into the project’s co-design process.
SmartGreenEcos partner IWDT is meeting dairy companies across Jordan to understand their real operational needs and ensure that the project’s digital services are built with SMEs, not simply for them.
Following the launch of SmartGreenEcos activities in Jordan, Investment World for Development and Technology (IWDT) has moved from outreach to direct engagement with participating dairy SMEs through a programme of on-site company visits and structured field assessments.
The visits take the SmartGreenEcos team directly into dairy production facilities, giving companies the opportunity to discuss their everyday challenges, growth ambitions and priorities in their own operational environment.
Every dairy business is different. Companies vary in size, products, markets, digital readiness, environmental practices and future ambitions.
For this reason, the SmartGreenEcos approach does not begin by assuming what businesses need. It begins by listening, assessing and understanding.
During each company visit, the IWDT team looks at several aspects of the business, including its current production and operational processes, use of digital tools, sustainability practices, growth priorities and the areas where SmartGreenEcos support could add the greatest value.
These discussions also help identify which of the project’s four service areas — AI-based Benchmarking and Optimisation, Capacity Building, Digital Procurement or Collaborative New Product Development — are most relevant to each company.
The information gathered during the visits is not simply used for assessment.
It feeds directly into the SmartGreenEcos co-design process, helping the project partners understand the operational realities, user requirements and practical priorities that should shape the digital platforms and services currently under development.
This is particularly important for ensuring that the tools developed through SmartGreenEcos are practical, accessible and relevant to the day-to-day realities of Mediterranean SMEs.
The field programme has already included visits to registered dairy companies such as Shaikh Dairy and Cheese, Atayeb Al Andalus, Alban Haratna and Alban Al Mazra’a, among others.
Across the field assessments, several common themes are beginning to emerge.
Many companies show a strong interest in digital transformation and data-driven management, while at the same time facing barriers such as investment costs, limited access to suitable technologies and regulatory complexity. Sustainability is also increasingly seen as a strategic business priority, but companies often need practical guidance on how to translate this ambition into their existing operations.
Businesses have also highlighted competitive pressure, transport costs and access to export markets as important concerns and growth priorities. These insights are helping IWDT and the wider SmartGreenEcos partnership better tailor project support to the realities of Jordan’s dairy sector.
One example is Alban Haratna, a dairy company specialising in cheese and jameed production. During the field visit, the IWDT team discussed the company’s operational situation, export ambitions, new product development and digital transformation objectives, as well as challenges including market competition and rising transport costs.
SmartGreenEcos is designed around the principle that participating businesses should have an active role in shaping the solutions they will eventually use.
By meeting dairy SMEs on their production floors, talking directly with management and operational teams, and gathering structured feedback, the project is turning real business experience into input for platform development, training and future support activities.
The Jordan field visits therefore represent more than an assessment exercise. They are an important step in connecting the project’s digital and green ambitions with the people, processes and challenges found inside real dairy businesses.
Listen first. Understand the challenge. Build the solution together.
Last Update
14/08/2026
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