The “Double Your Enterprise” Programme, the Government’s newest initiative to support small and medium-sized enterprises, brought together representatives of state institutions, the Bank of Albania, the banking system, international partners and the business community to discuss mechanisms for financing entrepreneurship and strengthening the public-private partnership.

The discussions focused on expanding businesses’ access to finance as an instrument for encouraging investment, increasing productivity and fostering the country’s economic development.

Prime Minister Edi Rama, who participated in one of the panels, stressed that the programme is the result of an interinstitutional cooperation process between the Government, the Bank of Albania, second-tier banks and international partners, to create a new and sustainable financing mechanism for entrepreneurship.

During the discussion, it was emphasised that the new instrument will be directed towards sectors with high development potential, creating more favourable conditions for investment, increased competitiveness and the strengthening of the productive economy.

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Prime Minister Edi Rama: I would like to begin precisely with the synergy created to arrive at the shaping of this new product made available to entrepreneurs, because it was fundamental for us, on our part as the Government of Albania, to have the cooperation and willingness of the Bank of Albania and then also of the second-tier banks, which, to tell the truth, at least verbally, have assured us that they will do their part properly for the success of this programme.

I say “at least verbally” because the truth is that banks have entered an extraordinary comfort zone. While everyone else struggles to earn, banks earn without struggling, and not only that, but they earn quite a lot. This does not, of course, make us jealous, but it makes us more demanding towards the banks, because the truth is that the Chairman of the Association spoke about losses, but they will not incur losses from this programme. Nor will they make the kind of profits they make, for example, from housing loans, where they earn 6–7% while sitting in air-conditioned offices.

Here, meanwhile, they will also sit in air-conditioned offices, cover all their costs and make a modest profit. However, in the medium and long term, the profit for the banks will also be considerable, because what we aim to achieve through this programme is to give wings to small and medium-sized enterprises so that they can double in size. In other words, medium-sized enterprises should grow and become almost large enterprises, while small enterprises should grow and become medium-sized enterprises.

It is very important that this spirit of cooperation, which we have had so far, should continue. I would like to thank the Governor in particular, because he has been instrumental in this project. Naturally, while thanking him, I would like to say that I would be very pleased to thank him again in six months’ time for the success of this project.

The success of this project will also depend on the pressure that the Governor will exert. When he was young, he also played basketball, although not at the level of Ilir Trebicka, who is here in the room. It will depend on the pressure that he will exert on the second-tier banks to bring them out of their comfort zone.

On the other hand, given that the banks have an entire manual of excuses, which they use with great efficiency, and one of these excuses is that the business plans of small and medium-sized enterprises are not sufficiently developed and sufficiently convincing, we have brought another force into this process, which we have not had until now.

This is a force with absolutely indisputable expertise: UNDP, the United Nations office here in Tirana. Through UNDP, we will engage international experts and establish a dedicated team to assist businesses that have interesting ideas and a credible plan, but do not have the capacity to translate it into a convincing project for the banks.

This dedicated team will be available to all businesses, while the Ministry of Economy will, of course, play its role in guaranteeing coordination between business entities and the group of experts.

Likewise, through the Ministry of Economy, we have made available a website, an online page through which businesses can address the Ministry directly. It also includes a chat box that provides answers to questions related to the programme and to elements of the programme for which entities may require clarification.

The website is designed as a mechanism for rapid communication and interaction, but also as a bridge that will make it easier for us to see the overall picture of the programme’s progress.

Another element I would like to emphasise is that a cycle of meetings throughout the country has also been planned to contact interested businesses and, at the same time, encourage certain businesses to become involved in this programme.

However, it is not only the Ministry of Economy. There is a team here that has common objectives, but also separate objectives according to the different components of this team.

For this reason, the Ministry of Finance has undoubtedly been instrumental, and I would also like to thank the Minister.

Therefore, I would like to thank the Minister for his contribution. Again, just as with the Governor, I would like to thank the Minister again in six months for the success of the project, because the Ministry of Finance is also instrumental in the interaction with the banks.

I remind the banks that the Governor has many things in his hands, but the Ministry of Finance is not entirely empty-handed either, should the banks fail to accompany us in this process with all the necessary willingness.

This is because we are talking about something that, as I will explain at the end, is much more important to understand than simply a lending programme.

Likewise, the Minister of Agriculture and the Ministry of Agriculture are important to the project in two respects.

We are making this project directly available to private entities. Naturally, when it comes to rural development, one of the Government’s priorities during this term is to encourage as much agricultural processing as possible.

In agritourism, things have already settled into their proper course, I would say. However, in agricultural processing, we have considerable potential and extensive undeveloped space.

On the other hand, a new element of the programme is support for joint companies: joint companies in rural areas involving private entities, farmers, small and medium-sized rural entrepreneurs, and municipalities.

We also have the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, which has its own role in the process of stimulating enterprises connected with tourism. However, I always want to emphasise that this loan, this programme, this credit line, has been designed for small and medium-sized businesses, not for large businesses.

Large enterprises will not be able to access this programme, even if they try to use some of those tricks. Fortunately, we have several people in the Government who come from the private sector and who have used such tricks themselves in the past.

Therefore, they have warned us about where the large businesses might try to find their way in, and we have closed every possible path to them.

Then there is the Minister responsible for all local authorities, Mr Demo, who bears the responsibility of coordinating the municipalities with the programme in relation to joint companies.

He also, of course, has responsibility for coordination regarding the “Mountain Package”, which is another programme where there may also be convergence with this credit line.

To be clear, the financing lines are intended to stimulate productivity, which is one of the main challenges facing our economy today. For this reason, in addition to agricultural processing, as I said, another area is the manufacturing industry as a whole, followed by transport and logistics, and then technology and the digital economy.

We now have many existing businesses that, with financing, could move to another level.

For example, I will give a concrete example, not for those of you here, because you are clear about this, but perhaps those following us need a concrete example to understand the scope of the programme. There is, for example, an extraordinary business in the deep south of our country, where an emigrant, a young man who returned from emigration, has created a company of young shepherds.

It is well known how much demand there is for this occupation and how few people have been and remain available to support the growth of the livestock sector, which is one of the sectors facing the greatest risks. The surprising aspect of this business is that a company has been created with a considerable number of young people, all under the age of 30, who work as shepherds.

They come from different backgrounds, but through this company they have found an opportunity to earn money. When I asked the young man how far he saw the company’s potential in terms of the number of livestock, he said: “Even 100,000 head, but of course financing is needed.” This is a typical case in which giving such a business an injection of funding immediately takes it to another level. That business does not lack knowledge, willingness or manpower, meaning human capital. What it lacks is financing.

Another very interesting business is located in another area of Albania, in the Fier region, in the Lushnjë area, where there is a very small industry, a small enterprise engaged in the production of cosmetics.

These are internationally certified cosmetic products, but the business operates on a small scale.

The answer to the question about its potential is the same, and so is the problem: financing.

There are also enterprises, or nuclei of small enterprises, we might say, in the field of technology. Some of them come from the “Startup Albania” programme.

They have entered the market, but they need financing in order to grow, double and multiply in size.

Finally, I would like to say that the programme has a ceiling of EUR 2 million, which is a considerable amount, and it will systematically receive our full support and attention. For this reason, we will also establish a task force composed of representatives of the Government, UNDP and the Albanian Association of Banks.

The Chairman of the Association, for example, would be very welcome to become part of this task force, in order to periodically analyse the results, identify where the programme requires intervention and where it is becoming blocked, and then determine which bank should be referred to the Governor.

The final point I would like to make is that all the figures are very positive, but figures at this time and at this stage of our development have a major problem. The more positive the figures are, the more they irritate people. The more often you repeat that the economy has grown steadily by an average of 4%, which is something genuinely very positive, the more tension and irritation you generate.

Every time you say that the number of businesses has increased, you are confronted only with an effect that is the exact opposite of what good news would normally produce.

I have personally become convinced that this is a very significant indication of a new stage of development that we have entered.

This is not a sign of a society that does not understand progress or does not see progress. It is a sign of a society that wants much more progress, wants it much faster, preferably today, and does not care where that progress comes from.

The time and the generations that greatly valued the journey in order to draw conclusions about their position and project the continuation of that journey have changed completely, because fewer and fewer people are interested in where we were.

Fewer and fewer people are interested in the difficulties encountered along the way and in how we came from one point to another.

Indeed, not only are fewer people interested, but increasingly any reference to the road already travelled irritates them, because the success of others is a reason for people to demand success for themselves as well.

Any difference between themselves and others becomes a reason for irritation when the journey tells them: “You must be patient.” For this reason, this programme is also very important from a psychological perspective for entrepreneurs.

People deserve to have new opportunities to test themselves and to achieve success more extensively and more quickly. Naturally, there is no reason why they should not seek these new opportunities from the Government.

We are therefore at a new stage of development in which the relationship of trust with institutions, the relationship of trust with society and the relationship of trust with the country are now shaped by expectations, rather than by achievements.

Achievements are something else. They are undoubtedly very important, but they are entirely insufficient, because expectations determine people’s daily lives; they determine everyone’s daily life.

Naturally, we have no possibility of addressing expectations that exist in thin air.

However, expectations in the field of work, expectations relating to efforts to grow through work and expectations in the field of entrepreneurship, which is the undisputed engine of the economic development of a democratic country and cannot be replaced by hallucinatory formulas, must be addressed by us through a greater number of instruments.

This is a direct instrument for addressing those expectations.

I also want to emphasise one other point. The Governor is required to be restrained, particularly because the Governor represents an institution which, in a secular context, is equivalent to the Pope. Therefore, no one goes to protest in front of the Vatican.

However, I want to tell entrepreneurs that we are prepared to provide up to EUR 1 billion in support. We have started with EUR 250 million. Naturally, the Governor is right when he says that the magnitude of the success of this first block of funds will also determine the further development of the programme.

Naturally, the Governor says that, should it prove necessary, we will add more funds.

However, we are prepared to go up to EUR 1 billion: EUR 1 billion for small and medium-sized enterprises, made possible through Government support, so that no one can say: “I do not have financial support to implement my plan.”

However, there must be a plan, and the plan must be approved by the bank.

This money will not be kept at a Bank of Albania counter for everyone to go and collect in an envelope. It is the same as the European Union funds, regarding which we are told: “Here they are, available to you.” However, to receive them, we have to do a series of things so that we can then gain proper access to them.

Therefore, for everyone who has a plan, we also assist to ensure that the plans are prepared in such a way that the banks can trust them.

No one, therefore, has any reason to say: “I have no support, no one pays attention to me and no one does anything for me.”

No.

Precisely to ensure that there are no uninformed people, we will conduct an entire information campaign. The ministers, according to their respective sectors, will be present in the areas under their responsibility to explain the programme and encourage businesses.

At the same time, on social media, in the media and on the streets, people will see that there is an invitation to double their enterprise.

Therefore, anyone who has an idea and a plan should sit down, write it, apply and receive up to EUR 2 million, with 70% of the collateral guaranteed by the Government and an interest rate of between 2% and 3%.

An interest rate of between 2% and 3% is clearly a source of oxygen for any company that wants to breathe more freely and run faster.