By: Nedal Zubeidi
Jordan Daily - Jordan has many success stories. Some make headlines, while others unfold quietly, as though their owners deliberately chose to let their work speak louder than their words.
When I visited Al Shurook for Printing & Packaging, I expected to see a large printing house, a successful factory, perhaps a family business that had grown steadily over the years. What I encountered instead was a different story altogether: the story of a man who believed that trust is a form of capital that often precedes money itself.
As Mamoun Kotob, Chief Executive Officer of Al Shurook for Printing and Packaging Group, recounted the company's journey, he began by speaking about the early days he shared with his late father and his brothers, not with revenues or market share. He spoke with the enthusiasm of someone who had always believed that hard work and commitment could open doors that seemed permanently closed.
In the year 2000, the company's total annual sales barely approached one million dinars. Yet that same year, it made a decision that many considered bold: purchasing a state-of-the-art Heidelberg printing press from Germany. A five-color machine with advanced capabilities, carrying a price tag of one million euros.
At the time, there was no bank willing to finance such a purchase. There were no sophisticated guarantees, no elaborate financial structures, none of the assurances that large corporations proudly display today.
There was only one asset.
Trust.
The German manufacturer trusted the man and trusted the company. The machine was delivered, and payment was arranged in installments of €125,000 every six months over four years.
It was not merely a commercial transaction. It was a vote of confidence in a small Jordanian company trying to establish itself in a highly competitive market.
Mamoun Kotob speaks of that period the way sailors speak of their first voyage into open waters. Competitors believed the undertaking was too large. Many thought the company could not sustain such commitments and that the machine might become the beginning of its downfall.
He saw it differently. He saw it as a beginning.
Today, more than two decades later, Al Shurook's purchases from Heidelberg alone have exceeded € 20 million.
Sometimes the difference between an ordinary company and an exceptional one is a single courageous decision- taken by someone who possesses neither complete certainty nor unlimited resources, but who believes deeply in what he is building.
The true beginning of Al Shurook's remarkable journey came in 2000.
Its true foundations were laid in 1993. That year, Mamoun Kotob traveled to Italy and purchased a group of used printing machines. He sold part of them, recovered most of his investment, and retained the rest for production. Compared with what would come later, it was a modest venture. But it became the school in which he learned how fear can be transformed into opportunity, and how limited capital, when managed wisely, can create an unlimited future.
When I asked him about challenges, he did not speak in the familiar language of business executives, where every discussion begins with energy costs and ends with taxes. He acknowledged difficulties related the increasing administrative requirements imposed on businesses, then quickly returned to his central belief: Jordan remains a good place to invest.
He says this not out of courtesy, but from experience.
He has invested beyond Jordan's borders and has seen other markets firsthand. Yet he still believes that, despite some challenges, Jordan offers an environment where commitment, perseverance, and integrity can still be rewarded.
What is particularly interesting about Al Shurook is that it exports relatively little directly. Instead, it exports through its customers. Many of Jordan's leading manufacturers and producers of food products, detergents, tobacco and molasses- ship their goods across the region and beyond, carrying with them packaging produced by Al Shurook.
In this way, the company has become an invisible partner in Jordan's export success.
Behind every successful product stands a network of unseen contributors. Consumers notice what sits on the shelf; they rarely see the dozens of companies that helped bring it there. Al Shurook is one of those institutions that quietly perform an essential role.
Perhaps there is another lesson hidden in that simplicity: success often comes not from trying to be everything, but from knowing precisely what you are- and doing it exceptionally well.
I left the visit thinking that Al Shurook is not merely a printing company.
It is the story of a family that built its reputation on commitment. It is the story of a company that discovered early on that a million euros is not simply a sum of money- it is a test of credibility.
And in business, as in life, trust is often the most valuable capital of all.
