Lufthansa Industry Solution, one of the biggest IT firms in the market today and a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa Group, has launched its operations for more than a year in Tirana. Some 200 young Albanian informatics professionals have been hired by the German company in its new company headquarters specifically designed in line with the modern EU standards and recently opened at the space of the Air Albania Stadium.
Prime Minister Edi Rama today visited the premises where these skilled young boys and girls who thank to their talent and impressive work performance are increasingly becoming an address for other leading German firms. “There are about 200 employees who are the country’s best IT specialists or IT developers,” the Lufthansa Industry Solution Administrator Albana Shkurta said.
The company plans to further expand its activity also through close cooperation with Albanian universities. “The majority of the employed young girls and boys have graduated from the Albanian universities. The vast majority of them are working for first time for Lufthansa. We have established cooperation programs with universities through internship programmes. As soon as they decide to seek for a job or are attending an internship programme they get a foothold in our company. They all speak English fluently and many of them speak German too, which is a big advantage at this company,” Shkurta went on saying.
An online meeting with the Managing Director of Lufthansa Industry Solutions, Bernd Appel, took place in of the company’s premises. The administrator of LHIND Albania subsidiary said that the new investments in the field of IT will aim to create much better employment opportunities for Albanian youth and their career development. Lufthansa Industry Solution is the largest IT firm in the market today. The world is experiencing huge development in the field of ICT over the past years. This company has become a 100% owned subsidiary of Lufthansa Group since last April. We are constantly investing in the field of IT to create a very good employment opportunity for Albanian youth, opportunities for their career development,” Shkurta said.
Talented young people and advantages in doing business in Albania have made LHIND activity in Albania, according to the LHIND Managing Director, “a successful concept and model.”
“We are happy to hire highly skilled employees. The cooperation with their colleagues in Germany is also strengthening. The commitment of colleagues, especially the young colleagues in Tirana, clearly seems to be growing and is excellent. This is a model of success. Of course, there are some advantages, which we see wherever we work, especially the high quality, but also the low cost we have the opportunity to make best of them when implementing our projects us,” Appel said, underlining that the company plans to further expand its activity in Albania. “In the next two years, we plan to double our activity in Tirana and cooperate with universities. This is a realistic opportunity to increase our activity.”
Albania’s reality for investments is quite optimal for German companies, Prime Minister Edi Rama said, considering this investment as a success story.
“What we see here is absolutely impressive; the first phase of this project that involves so many young Albanian boys and girls, who can work in this modern environment without having to leave their homes, just like they were to be wherever in Germany and offer their high quality service as described by Lufthansa, one of Germany’s leading and prestigious companies. It is really exciting that the professional and human development of these young people takes place right here at the heart of Tirana thanks to this fantastic investment by Lufthansa and its engagement in Albania and thanks to this very useful interaction, not only in terms of company’s functioning and development, but also in terms of the professional growth of all these young people.
The number of young people employed here is really impressive and it is even more encouraging when you hear this is the first phase only. Albana informed me that due to the coronavirus you were forced to suspend plans to move into the upper floor where, as far as I understood, there will be enough room to double the number of employees. This is fantastic. While on this floor, realistically, in every corner you can feel the same atmosphere and warmth in a work environment that you would find in prestigious German companies.
Of course, you are not here on a charity mission, but you are here to earn more, because you are a company that works to earn, but I want to express my great gratitude for the fact that you not only chose Albania, not only believe in Albania as a country where the most prestigious German investments can take place, but also confirm that you have made the right choice.
I very much wish and hope that in the meantime you will be the ambassadors of Albania to the German business community, where many who prejudice Albania because they do not know it, or know it through the stereotype created for a thousand and one reasons, to hear directly from you that the reality of Albania for investments is quite optimal for German companies. Moreover, I have often repeated that the arrival of German companies in Albania is not only an economic issue, it is not only an issue of increasing foreign investment in Albania, but also a cultural issue to bring to Albania a high culture of work, a special culture of harmony and discipline through harmony at work, a culture that nurtures anyone involved in an activity of a German investment to grow professionally and, from a human point of view, as a team player.
Germany has always had its own football stars, yet it has always had the success of the team. It always knew how to employ these stars to serve the team, turning the latter into its most brilliant star. This is significant in the working culture of German business. This makes Albanian youth and all those involved in a German business activity feel privileged, motivated, feel part of a success story.
Thank you very much! You are welcome to Albania, as you can see for yourself and I have definitely not forgotten the conversations we had together and that you talked about other development steps, which will certainly follow. Everything is done step by step and you are the best in the world in doing things gradually. But, seeing this investment, I am very motivated and stimulated at the same time, for the next steps, to have more space here and more presence with Lufthansa and other Lufthansa subsidiaries.”
