Italian entrepreneurs transferring their businesses and living in Albania


 Deprived by the opportunities of a rapid growing economy, many Italian entrepreneurs have decided to invest in Albania.

An Italian media reportage, specifically the "Estovest" show on RAI, brings stories of three Italian entrepreneurs who decided to leave their country in order to invest in Albania in the agriculture, textile and fashion sector.

Like Brizzi brothers, who in Kavaja - 23km south of Durres - are owners of a textile factory that produces high fashion apparel, a family business created 30 years ago by their father in Minervino, in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, (BAT).

Things have not always been easy for them in Italy.

The factory in fact has been the victim of robberies over the years, which caused Michele to close its doors.


The company, however, began again. Left Italy and inaugurated a factory in Albania, but with the war in the former Yugoslavia, they were again forced to shut it down and going for 20 years in Romania.

"Three years ago, we decided to try again, both in Minervino and in Albania. The difficulties in continuing the business in Italy made the factory move exclusively to Albania." Brizzi brothers said, according to whom, unlike Italy, the Albanian state helps entrepreneurs.

Further north of Kavaja, right in Shijak, is the factory of Andrea Castaldo, 33, born in Naples, who for a year and a half has transferred part of the family business that produces polyester ropes in Albania.

The demand in Italy has fallen by far, says Andrea - while at the same pace is growing in the Balkans; therefore the Neapolitan entrepreneur has preferred to transfer his company to the Balkans, mainly to avoid unnecessary costs. But also for logistical issues and thus being closer to buying countries like Kosovo, Montenegro and Bulgaria.

Andrea, as he says, would never have thought to go to Albania to work, but at the age of 33 is an adventure that can be sustained.

In the southern part of Albania, Gjirokastra is the area of Paulonia and Cristian Armati, 33, from Bergamo.

Paulonia is a tree that produces the kind of wood used for the furniture industry, a branch of the father company that Cristian wanted to bring it to Albania, withdrawn from emerging markets in Eastern Europe.

In Italy, say the company's entrepreneurs, it would be much more difficult; in Albania they found many uncultivated hectares, receiving a 100-hectare concession for 90 years they began to bring their own tree, which is already distributed both in Italy and Albania.
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