For the first time there is a significant fund from public finances to support startups and incubators in Albania. After the adoption of the law on startups, the Ministry of Entrepreneurship is managing the call that has been open since May 16. When there are still a few days left from the application, we conducted an interview with the Minister of State for the Protection of Entrepreneurship, Mrs. Edona Bilali.

Can you tell us how the community interest has been?

We must say that the interest has been extremely great, the Albanian Government’s innovation to support for the first time from public funds young people with innovative ideas who want to develop their businesses has been welcomed. So far we have more than 400 applications to be equipped with the startup passport as a necessary condition for the grant application. This number exceeded our expectation for the entire call time. This shows a thirst for the market, especially young people, who through this can see themselves as part of this market as potential entrepreneurs.

The Minister of State for Enterprise Protection has opened the call for grant support to startups and startup facilitators, who develop innovative projects in priority areas for the country’s development. The objective of this initiative is to help create a favorable climate for attracting, involving and retaining talent and human resources, facilitating and supporting access to financial resources and social inclusion and diversity in defense of democratic values, encouraging and introducing innovation in economic sectors. Individuals, natural and legal persons including academia, municipalities, secondary and professional education, incubators and accelerators, workspaces, etc. will be supported with grants. This call aims to support projects that are developed in Albania and are innovative. The submitted project-proposals will be realized within the budget year 2022. The call for startups and facilitators will remain open from May 16, 2022 – June 5, 2022.

How have the trends been so far?

For many young people, who were mainly motivated by numerous calls from Civil Society Organizations in the country and abroad, this call this year has a different application or participation logic. Because everyone who will apply for a grant should already have a prototype of what they want to offer in our market. The diaspora or foreigners who want to do business in Albania with their startups are also given the opportunity to be part of this initiative.

How was the interaction with community actors?

Since the opening of the call by the Minister of State for the Protection of Entrepreneurship, facilitating opportunities have been created through the “One Stop Shop” program, where everyone who wanted to be informed in advance, or had started the phase of the procedures by registering on the government portal “e -albania”, in the passport of the startup or startup facilitator, and above all for solving the problems addressed through communication with an expert of the startup community.

Have they embraced, shared or supported the call?

From several meetings that I have had in the field during these days, I have met pupils, students, young people active in CSOs who are so interested in this call, but there has also been a great interest from organizations, universities and high schools and professional, whether public or private, but also the municipalities in the country who have supported the initiative and are committed to being concrete during this phase, i.e. the application.

How many startups have been equipped with a passport?

So far, about 400 passports have been issued for startups. I would like to point out that: Everyone should apply for a passport by June 3, 2022, as the passport processing time is two days and the call closes on June 5, 2022.

What is the average number of startups/facilitators that can benefit from grants this year?

Being the first call, we cannot have an exact forecast on the number of beneficiaries, but the allocated value is predetermined 300 million ALL, which will be available for this call. Also, both for grants for startups and for startup facilitators, the same procedure will be followed – the self-declaration stage in e-albania, the issuance of the passport and the sending of the application to the address: startup@sipermarrja.gov.al

Are there applications beyond Tirana, from other districts?

There are applications from all over Albania and abroad. What makes us feel good is the interest of all market actors, i.e. entrepreneurship, who have encouraged young people, especially talents, to give themselves opportunities for a process of growth both in capacities, but also in the production of products that they wish to offer.

Let me explain here how the fund of 300 million ALL will be distributed in several categories, which are presented in the regulation of this call:

We will continue with 1.5 million to 5 million ALL for startups; for young people with a prototype ready for the market up to 1.5 million; for all those startups that are part of the market and these are the first steps, i.e. within a year of being registered as businesses to give them another opportunity to raise up to 3 million ALL; and a support to strengthen the initiative of those whose business is registered in the range of 1-5 years up to 5 million ALL. Meanwhile, for the entire academic world, municipalities, organizations, a fund of 10 to 20 million ALL is intended for material and organizational support such as incubators, trainings and associations to raise the level and quality of potential startups, but also existing ones.

Will there be other calls?

The call for startups and facilitators is the first call that precedes the calls that will be opened in the next three years.