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Archive for the ‘Albania Business’ Category

Well, the new largest shopping centre in Albania has finally opened.  After originally scheduled for opening in September 2009, construction delays pushed the opening until December, just in time for Christmas.

Clearly the Marketing Director should be fired for coming up with “The Diamond of Albania”, but Albania is still in the learning phase when it comes to marketing.

Here are the stats:

• 237,600sqm in total size
• more than 180 shops
• 550sqm indoor ice-skating rink
• Cartoon Land (for children) - 10,000sqm
• Slovenian Retailer Mercator is largest store on site (5,000sqm)
• Euronics will be second largest retailer (3,000sqm)

The location of the shopping centre is excellent, only 12km to Tirana centre, 8km to Kamez Crossing, and 5km to the Airport.  The shopping city was constructed by the local company AM Group. The total cost of the investment is estimated at EUR80 million.

Current shopping centres like QTU and Casa Italia will now have to push harder to attract the shoppers and keep the retailers.  Still, shopping will never be the same again in Albania - especially make sure you take your ice-skates with you

For more info visit http://cityparkalbania.com.  Strangely, the Colliers website www.citypark-al.com is down at time of publishing this.

More photos:

More visuals:

The new Albania Business Guide is available, and due to my business experience in Albania I was invited to write an article on Networking in Albania.

Followers of my blog, can read my contribution below:

How Networking is developing in Albania

Over the next two years networking will play an important role in the future of Albania’s businesses and economy. The global economic crisis which started in 2008, will force business professionals to work closer together and support each other to survive and succeed.

In one respect, Albanians are natural networkers and their culture is based on social gatherings. Whether it is coffee with friends, family lunchtime on Sunday or the early evening “stroll, meet and greet”. But does this translate into effective business networking?

What is Networking?

Firstly it is important to understand exactly what networking is. Entrepreneur.com defines networking as:

“Developing and using contacts made in business for purposes beyond the reason for initial contact”.

Yourdictionary.com defines it as:

“The developing of contacts or exchanging information with others in an informal network, as to further a career”.

So networking isn’t just running around and meeting new people. I’ve heard it said that effective and good networking is an art form, which means, something that can be learned and perfected. I wonder why that is. Is networking really a skill?

The main point about networking is the “developing” aspect. You not only need to meet new people, you need to develop a relationship and share information. And this is what you need to make time for. This means you need to meet the same people again and again in an open and positive environment where you can discuss ideas and develop your relationships. Networking is an important part of building long-term sustainable and profitable business relationships.

In Albania, where social networks are the foundation of society, why do I hear that people have trouble business networking? Let’s look at the recent history of networking in Albania to try to understand.

History of Albanian Networking

The history of networking in Albania falls under the categories of Politics, Business, Religion, Education and Sports. Firstly, let’s look at politics.

Politics

From 1945 to 1991, when the Communist Party ruled Albania, all networking groups were created and controlled by the government. And of course, to join the networking groups you had to be an official member of the Communist Party.

The groups included the Network of Intellectuals which was made up of doctors, lawyers, and other high level professionals. Another group was the “Pioner” Youth Group whose members comprised boys and girls aged up to 18 years. Every weekend the Youth Group would conduct excursions where the members would go into the mountains for various activities from tree planting to hiking.

Members of the Youth Group often migrated into the Military Group once they reached 18 years of age. In this new group they learned more intensive military skills and survival training.

It was clear that during communism, networking groups existed for control and education, and there was no freedom to share information and ideas that were outside of the prescribed communist dogma.

At the end of 1990, at the fall of communism, the first post-communist group emerged – Rinia e Punes se Shqiperise – which was the result of student protests in Tirana. From this group immediately formed the Democratic Party, with Sali Berisha as the chair.

After the Democrats, formed the Republicans and the Socialists soon after. Other groups emerged as well including one that protected the rights of Greek minorities in Albania.

Business

The Chambers of Commerce have played an important role in the development of business networking in Albania. The first chambers were Albanian Chambers started and operated by local businessmen. They were started as early as 1926, and after surviving the communist period, are still operating today.

The Chambers function has an important link between businesses and the politicians and government. They provide vital assistance and education on the ground in Albania.

More recently have emerged Chambers of Commerce in association with Albania, with direct links to America, Britain and Greece. And due to popular demand a new chamber linked to Italy will also be established.

Religion

After the fall of communism, religious groups returned to Albania. The main religious groups comprised Catholics, Orthodox, Islam and other smaller groups including Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses. Once again, they formed churches, groups and mosques.

Even though according to the US International Religious Freedom Report of 2006, 60% - 70% of Albanians are atheists or agnostics, religious groups today form an important part of the social structure in Albania.

Other Groups

Outside of politics, business and religion, other networking groups in Albania are mainly concentrated around Students/ Education or Sporting Clubs.

In the past, Albanians joined networking groups for a variety of reasons. During communism, they joined because they had to. After communism, they joined Political Parties for career prospects, Chambers for business prospects, Religious groups for their beliefs and economical support, Sporting groups to express their support or improve their athletic careers, and Student groups to gain support and friendship through their studies.

The Future of Networking

Networking is evolving and becoming increasing important to professionals and businesses. Not just networking through regular local meetings, but networking online or “online social networking” is growing in popularity.

Business of the future is changing. It is becoming more popular and important to have a social online profile. Businesses can interact with their customers in a way they never have before. Company representatives post blogs/ news as it happens, or Twitter through online “Tweets”.

Now some of you may be thinking – woah, wait, what is a blog? What is Twitter? What is a Tweet?

Thanks to Wikipedia:

A Blog (or weblog) is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.

Through both of these online tools businesses can keep in close contact with their clients, interact and build relationships. It also has the possibility to remove the mystery that surround some businesses and improve customer loyalty.

Clients can interact more with businesses, with feedback, recommendations and customer support requests through these online communication channels. For example, once a company has posted a blog, it is possible to comment on the blog, directly underneath.

Not only businesses, but individual professionals can use these tools as well. Professionals can boost their careers by displaying their expertise and experience. They can also contribute to forums and discussions and build their online personas with articles, blogs, photos, and links to friends and business groups.

Online social networking will be the future of global and business networking, and Albanian businesses and professionals cannot afford to miss out on this opportunity. However this form of networking should be an additional avenue, and not the only one. Online networking will not completely remove the importance of face-to- face networking.

So when it comes to business networking in Albania, how can you maximise your potential?

Top Networking Tips

1. Be Real – just be yourself as people can tell when you are trying to be something you’re not
2. What are your Goals? – you should know exactly the type of people you need to network with
3. Ask open-ended questions – these are questions that do not require a yes or no answer, and then you should listen carefully to the response
4. Know what makes you special – you need to be clear about what you do and why
5. Become a powerful resource – if you help as many people as you can and boost your profile, others will think of you first
6. Have integrity – if you promise a person you will call them, it is important you do that
7. Have a business card – it is important for people to read who you are as well as see
8. Smile and keep an open mind – people want to network with positive and open people
9. Follow Up – once you meet somebody you should follow up and keep in touch
10. Ask for advice – it will make the other person feel important

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Post-Article Follow Up

Since I wrote this article, I wanted to share some follow up thoughts about Networking in Albania.

While Albanians are great social networkers, they seem to have trouble with business networking.  Albanians seem to be paranoid about sharing business ideas and best practices, and helping each other out in business in general.  Whether it is the stigma of the closed communism that consumed the nation for decades, or something else, I am left wondering.

Small business in Albania is completely unsupported by the government.  They start up, run a while, then close, leaving a “Jepet me Qera” sign in its place.

Hopefully it won’t be too long, before the government turns from big business, big industry, oil and energy, and realise that it is SMALL BUSINESS that is and will be the future driver for the Albanian economy.