Albania BEST Game (Charity funded training)

Partner(s):

Needy people from various parts of the world benefit from SAIE’s business development training administered by Laura Baylis autonomously. Laura Baylis is a free lance instructor involved in the administration of SAIE’s training programmes. In line with SAIE’s programmes, Laura trains members of the community at grass-roots level to learn how to start and run their own businesses from many parts of the world. This project was administered in Albania. Albania shares borders with Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia and Greece while Italy is directly on the opposite across the Adriatic and Ionian seas. Lagging behind its Balkan neighbors, Albania is making the difficult transition to a more modern open-market economy. The government has taken measures to curb violent crime, and recently adopted a fiscal reform package aimed at reducing the large gray economy and attracting foreign investment. The economy is bolstered by annual remittances from abroad of $600-$800 million, mostly from Albanians residing in Greece and Italy; this helps offset the towering trade deficit. Agriculture, which accounts for more than one-fifth of GDP, is held back because of lack of modern equipment, unclear property rights, and the prevalence of small, inefficient plots of land. Energy shortages and antiquated and inadequate infrastructure contribute to Albania's poor business environment, which make it difficult to attract and sustain foreign investment.

Our Involvement:

Unlike regular SAIE entrepreneurship training programs which are carried out within South Africa, SAIE routinely conducts international trainings. In most cases, independent agents conduct the training after receiving master trainer training from SAIE. In other cases, SAIE service providers and staff may conduct the training on behalf of the firm. The training is usually customized to meet the unique characteristics of the recipient groups.

Project Progress:

The Albania training was conducted at a community centre in Lushnje. 10 completed the training and 2 people (Emiliano & Lindita) are now capable of being facilitators. The group that was trained was the Action Team Group, which were part of a 3-month training through the community centre. Most of these people were not from Lushnje.

One lady Lindita is planning to run the training in her town to help create employment, which is very low currently. She also wants to run it in her community.

The simulation practical turned out to be quite fruitful. Some of the people displayed remarkable creativity. The one person took the 300 Lek (About R20) and printed some business cards with the money. These were to advertise business services that he could provide, like translation and computer maintenance. These cards brought in business and he did quite well in the 2 weeks of the practical.

Another person has a father who runs a corner store and sells vegetables and fruit. So this man bought seeds with the start-up capital and grew herbs which he then got his dad to sell for him. Because seeds are so cheap, he made a huge percentage profit.

One member of the group is planning to set up an internet café in his city and used this training to help him know and understand the basics of business. He showed the trainers his business plan and it is quite good, although there were ways to reduce his set-up costs.

One of the group members approached the trainer afterwards that he was negative about the practical because he thought it would be hard to make money, but surprised himself at being able to do it and was now encouraged to continue to run a business.

Funder:

Product:

International Projects

Location:

Not specified.

Project Completion: