Kosovo's long, difficult recovery

In 1991, Armend Malazog jumped from the back of an army truck. At the time of 18, Kosovo's Albanian was losing a war between Serbia and Croatia, which had just begun to outline. Civil wars in the former Yugoslavia had just begun and would later spread to Kosovo. Today, 18 years after the end of the war and ten years after Kosovo's declaration of independence, most indicators draw a grim picture. Unemployment is about 33 percent, while GDP per person stands at $3.660, the lowest in the region. However, Malazogu, today one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Kosovo, thinks reality is less bleak than figures suggest.

Kosovo officials say the country's economy is being hampered by disagreements with Serbia, which refuses to accept independence and threatens legal shares against foreign firms who want to invest in it. Russia tops the list of countries opposing Kosovo's membership in the UN, while five EU member states have not yet recognised its independence.

But, Malazog says this is just an excuse for the government. External pressure has not prevented IT companies from subsidizing its fruit juice brand, “Frutomania”. In the last five years, his company has grown by 60 percent. Since 2016, an agreement with the EU has opened a huge market for him.

In a small factory located on the hills covered with fruit wood of Kravarica, machines work daily. The product is ready and placed in trucks bound for Hungary. The company has contracted suppliers from thousands of small producers in Kosovo and Albania, who have long sold their products on the side of the road.

Malazog says the problems he faces are more concrete than the UN membership issue. He needs to import bottles, hats and labels because none of them are produced in Kosovo, and the government has done nothing to encourage domestic production. Kosovars are the only European to the west of Russia who still cannot travel visa-free to the Schengen area.

An online company, Girrafa, is one of the most successful businesses in Kosovo. It is part of those few small Kosovo firms that have raised capital abroad. Its revenues have increased 10 times to 3 years. Its algorithms are designed to search Albanian-language pages.

It is an Albanian equivalent of YouTube and Netflix. In a region without Amazon and Alibaba, it has expanded trade online. That means, according to general manager Mergim Kahan, that even local small firms can sell anywhere in Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia. The giraffe gathers and delivers for them. In the Western Balkans, that means a business revolution.

Education is another headache in Kosovo. Another entrepreneur, Vlasnim Jiha, says the education system in Kosovo is outdated. He himself made his fortune in Switzerland. He but expects the government to modernise the education system. It has opened two “creative spaces” to encourage hundreds of young people to learn about technology.

Kosovo has some statistics it can boast of. Its economy is estimated to have grown by 3.5% last year. Remittances from the diaspora can be a lifeline for many, even though they also distort the economy. Why work for an average income of $360 a month if someone sends it to you? It is true that more than half of young Kosovars dream of leaving. But according to Jiha, our <x0immage is worse than reality”. /Tema TV/