Three days after the opening ceremony of the 3rd Global Entrepreneurship Week in Albania, Mrs. Joniada Hito (Program Director, Global Opportunities Albania) reports that participation exceeded their expectations so far. Over 70 students and visitors turned up on the 12th of November, the Day of Entrepreneurship in the Rectorate conference offices of Tirana University.

In his welcome remarks, Prof. Ervin Demo, Vice Rector of the institution talked about the importance of entrepreneurship for the Albanian economy. He stressed that adapting an entrepreneurial culture and mindset well before coming to university helps students later on. PhD. Gentian Shaqiri, PhD. Genc Alimehmeti and Mrs. Edlira Kasaj all covered important topics about Albania’s entrepreneurial mentality, the challenges of new entrepreneurship in the country and about organizations that support entrepreneurs, such as PROTIK.

On Tuesday, the 13th of November young entrepreneurs from The Dancing Bits, ADB Consulting, Eco-financë sh.p.k, Iceberg Communications, Studio Tred, Le Futur, Albania Business Partner, Googoats held a Business Speed Dating session in Zyra e konferencës PROTIK. The activity relied on individual conversations between the invited entrepreneurs and the 50 participants, but thanks to open questions and honest responses, a lively discussion emerged. An activity of this kind was organized for the first time in Albania and all the participants were eager to know when the next one will take place.

University of New York in Tirana invited Mark Crawford, President at AKSIONER International Securities Brokerage sh.a., to address 40 students from UNYT and form University of Tirana on the benefits one can earn by the process of failure. Mr. Crawford was kind enough to share his personal experience on triumphs of his long business career and also the setbacks that he had to face.

Albanian Center of Management Services held a Strategic Management Training on the 14th of November with the help of Mrs. Doloreza Sinanaj (Professor at the Economic Faculty of Tirana University). Participants familiarized themselves with the important topics of Strategic Management Concept Modeling, Strategic Technology; explored Corporate Strategy and learned how to identify key issues in the internal and external environment of a business. In the second part of the training, participants formed teams and held presentations using the newly learned concepts.

As we are only halfway through the week, we expect more to come from Albania, and in case you are in the country, make sure you do not miss out on the “Fostering Entrepreneurship among students workshop” or the “How to become a successful entrepreneur?” by Phd. Gazmend Haxhia, one of the most successful Albanian entrepreneurs, an activity hosted by Polis University.

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This post is a guest contribution from Daniel Szabo, a young Hungarian entrepreneur working out of the GEW Global offices in Washington, DC.

Daniel is a graduate student of the Corvinus University of Budapest. He works with future startup generations in Hungary through the Kairos Society and the Young Entrepreneurs Association (FIVOSZ), globally through the One Young World network.

tags: Albania, GEW 2012, gew albania, Global Opportunities Albania, Strategic Management