The first business cost Alaa Saleh $9,000 before it taught him what money could not: how to start again.
In 2021, Saleh entered entrepreneurship with borrowed capital, putting $9,000 into his first business. The venture failed, and the entire amount was lost. For many aspiring entrepreneurs, that moment could have marked the end of the story. For Alaa Saleh, it became the beginning of a much more remarkable one.
Instead of disappearing from the world of business, he went back to work. He began delivering for Talabat, gradually rebuilding his financial position while carrying the lessons of his first failure with him.
Then came another attempt.
This time, the starting capital was no more than $70.
What happened next transformed the trajectory of his entrepreneurial journey.
Alaa Saleh Started Again When Starting Over Was The Hardest Choice
There is a difference between starting a business when everything is going well and starting one after losing borrowed money.
Alaa Saleh experienced the second version.
The loss of $9,000 could have created hesitation, but his response was practical. He worked, rebuilt and eventually decided to take another chance on entrepreneurship.
The second business did not begin with investors, significant capital or the comfort of financial security.
It began with approximately $70.
That small number now stands in striking contrast to the scale of the business Saleh says he has built today.
His journey demonstrates an entrepreneurial mindset shaped less by perfect circumstances and more by persistence, resourcefulness and the willingness to try again after failure.
How Alaa Saleh Turned $70 Into A Growing Business
The second venture became the turning point.
With limited capital available, every decision mattered. There was little room for waste and no guarantee that the new attempt would succeed.
But instead of allowing the size of his starting capital to define the size of his ambition, Saleh focused on building gradually.
Step by step, the business grew.
The transformation was not immediate. It was the result of continuing to work after setbacks, learning from the first failed venture and using whatever resources were available to create the next opportunity.
That progression eventually took him into the perfume manufacturing industry.
Today, Alaa Saleh says he owns one of the largest perfume manufacturing facilities in Jordan, while the company continues to expand into new markets and develop its operations rapidly.
The distance between the two starting points is difficult to ignore.
$9,000 lost.
$70 invested.
A manufacturing operation built.
Alaa Saleh’s Biggest Business Lesson Came From Failure
The most powerful part of Saleh’s story is not simply the size of the facility he operates today.
It is the sequence of events that came before it.
His first business failed after being financed with borrowed money. His next chapter involved delivery work, financial recovery and another attempt at entrepreneurship with dramatically less capital.
That experience creates a different relationship with risk.
Failure is no longer an abstract concept. Saleh experienced it directly.
But so did recovery.
For entrepreneurs, that distinction matters. The ability to rebuild after a failed venture can become as valuable as the ability to launch a successful one.
From Delivery Work To Manufacturing
The Talabat period represents an important but easily overlooked chapter of the story.
From the outside, delivery work and perfume manufacturing appear to belong to completely different worlds.
For Saleh, however, the delivery period was part of the bridge between two entrepreneurial chapters.
It provided a way to rebuild financially while keeping his larger ambitions alive.
There is something significant about that period because it shows that entrepreneurship is not always glamorous. Sometimes it means accepting temporary work, starting from a lower point and continuing forward while nobody else can yet see the destination.
Alaa Saleh Is Now Expanding Beyond Jordan
The business has entered a different phase.
According to Saleh, the company is expanding rapidly into new markets while developing its operations at a fast pace.
That shift from survival to expansion introduces an entirely new set of challenges.
Building a business with limited capital requires creativity. Scaling one requires systems, consistency, operational discipline and the ability to make decisions for a much larger organization.
For Alaa Saleh, the entrepreneurial challenge has therefore evolved.
The question is no longer simply whether he can build a business from almost nothing.
It is how far that business can go.
The Entrepreneurial Mindset Behind Alaa Saleh’s Success Story
There is a useful lesson hidden inside the numbers.
A $9,000 failure did not become the defining figure of Alaa Saleh’s career.
Neither did the $70 starting point.
The defining element was what he did after each one.
He rebuilt.
He tried again.
He grew.
And eventually, he reached a point where the business was no longer simply an entrepreneurial experiment but a manufacturing operation with ambitions beyond its home market.
That progression makes Alaa Saleh’s journey particularly relevant to today’s generation of entrepreneurs. Business success does not always begin with substantial resources. Sometimes it begins with the decision to keep moving when the previous plan has already failed.
What Comes Next For Alaa Saleh
The next chapter is likely to be defined by expansion.
With the company entering new markets and developing its manufacturing operations, Saleh is moving from the early-stage challenges of entrepreneurship toward the more complex demands of business growth.
His story has already crossed several very different stages: first-time founder, failed entrepreneur, delivery worker, second-time founder and manufacturing business owner.
Each chapter changed the one that followed.
And that may ultimately be the most important lesson in Alaa Saleh’s story.
The $9,000 loss was not the ending.
The $70 was not too little.
The delivery job was not a detour.
Together, they became part of the journey that led to something considerably larger.
For Alaa Saleh, entrepreneurship was never about having the perfect beginning.
It was about refusing to let a difficult beginning determine the ending.
Follow Alaa Saleh on LinkedIn to discover his entrepreneurial journey, business growth and latest developments in the perfume manufacturing industry.
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