“Ambra” is one of Albania’s largest closed-cycle garment and footwear companies, locally known as façon, specialized in manufacturing and exporting some most famous clothing Italian and German brands to the European market. Thanks to the government’s incentives for business over the past few years, the company has expanded its manufacturing capacities, whereas the number of employees and their salary have increased significantly.
Prime Minister Edi Rama visited the “Ambra” manufacturing enterprise in Durres, which employed 430 people with their monthly wage ranging from 300 00 to over 120 000 lek.
Ambra’s manager explained how the company has kept growing over the years, reaching its peak over past few years when the enterprise transited to closed-cycle manufacturing entity and an additional technology investment of over 320 000 euros. “The company launched its activity back in 1995 when we hired some 25 to 30 employees, while we now employ more than 430 people. The company has made significant progress over the past three years. The market demands keep growing, as we have improved quality and work in a closed cycle. The process starts with cutting and the production line ends with ironing and packaging. This new production line was opened in 2015 in an investment worth of around 320 000 euros in state-of-the-art machineries,” he said.
He acknowledged that the government incentives to support business have fundamentally changed the doing business environment, directly echoing the company’s success. “The government accommodative policies have helped us a lot. First and foremost, the business environment created over past few years has never been so favourable. This is the truth. As for the cooperation, the business should be first to adopt an approach of correctness so that we can have a closer cooperation with the state institutions, the tax administration, the municipality etc.”
The workers can tell for themselves the changes in terms of working conditions they have experienced over the past few years and the technology they work with. “I work in this factory since in 1997. I have always been working as a manufacturing technician. In 2013, I had a salary hike to 650 000 lek. Now, I receive a monthly salary of 1.1 million lek. Of course, I am very happy with my job,” one of the employees said.
“When I started work, the monthly salary was 230 000 lek and it rose year by year. Now I receive 320 000 lek each month. The working conditions are good,” another employee said.
Meanwhile, another employee who started working at this company immediately after high school graduation, says his monthly salary has increased six-fold this year. “I started working here back in 2002, shortly after high school graduation. Back then, I used to earn 220 000 lek in monthly salary. In 2013, my salary rose to 500 000 lek and now I receive 1.2 million lek each month.”
Speaking about this fact, the company manager confirmed that wages have increased significantly over the past three years. “Wages vary, but I would tell you that our company has substantially increased salaries for its workers over the past three years. A novice employee receives a 240 000 cash payment compared to around 190 000 lek they were paid few years ago. Senior workers receive a monthly salary of 550 000 to 650 000 lek, whereas the sector heads earn over one million lek,” he said.
Prime Minister Edi Rama said in his remarks that transition to a closed-cycle enterprise was a significant accomplishment and the company’s next challenge is to enhance the “Made in Albania” brand names.
“This is the system’s transition to another level since the classical façon business implied made-to-order and tailor-made products only. The transition to a closed cycle manufacturing process is the step we have wished for in order to launch Made in Albania brand names. We should work to expand range of Made in Albania brands in order to increase revenue and the salaries,” PM Rama said.
