Albania 2017 — Startups and more (sneak peek)
For full article and pictures please visit the original article at: kathleenfritzsche.com
This past November, I spent a month as Entrepreneur-in-residence in Tirana, Albania. I supported the local startup community and its entrepreneurs as best as possible because I believe in the principle of „paying it forward“ and giving back. It was a fantastic experience with a lot of interesting and motivational insights! Here is what I learned during those four weeks:
Albania’s recent history is key in understanding this little country and its nevertheless very hospitable people. From 1945 until 1989, Albania went through one of the most oppressive communist regimes in Europe. It was isolated from the outside world for most of that period, the national spy agency had their people in every possible corner of the country, the attempt of fleeing the country was seen as treason and met with capital punishment. The economy was on the brink of bankruptcy for decades, like in many other communist countries. Nevertheless, the Albanian people managed to slowly pick up the shattered pieces and build up the country again, only to get into a civil war in 1997 when the banking system crushed because of a major Ponzi scheme and more than 70% of the people lost all their savings. During that time, war broke out in Kosovo as well. An overall challenging and horrifiying period for the people in the Balkans, to say the least. Since then, Albanians have step by step rebuild the country while also trying to maintain their traditions and culture. Unfortunately, many Albanians left the country in the 1990s to live abroad so that in fact, nowadays more Albanians live abroad than in Albania itself.
READ 900+ more words in the original post.
Originally published at kathleenfritzsche.com on December 20, 2017.
