About GEN in Albania

The Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) established its presence in Albania through the launch of Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), celebrated in the country since at least 2010. The University of Tirana led the first documented campaigns, with Global Opportunities Albania hosting from 2012 through 2016 and Protik Innovation Center Albania taking the reins in 2017. Ergest Nako emerged as an early steward of GEN's presence in the country, focusing GEN Albania's engagement on government partnerships and ecosystem convening.  

Albania's GEW campaign drew ministerial-level engagement. Edona Bilali, Albania's inaugural Minister of State for Entrepreneurship, hosted GEW events at the Ministry. As a small Ministry of eight staff, Minister Bilali saw GEW's convening power as a core ecosystem-building resource. In 2023, GEN Albania hosted a dedicated GEW program and the Young Entrepreneurs Albania GEW Summit was held in Shkodër, extending the campaign beyond Tirana into Albania's northern cities. 

Policy engagement has been a defining feature of GEN's work in Albania. Florensa Haxhi, Director General of Development Programs and Cooperation in the Prime Minister's Office, was among the early Albanian members of the Startup Nations community — GEN's global network of ministers and policy advisors focused on enabling entrepreneur-led growth. Ana Petani, advisor to Minister Bilali, has been an active Startup Nations member and represented the Minister at the Startup Nations Ministerial during the 2022 Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Riyadh, bringing the country's voice to a cabinet-level gathering spanning governments across the development spectrum.  

In 2023, Prime Minister Edi Rama launched Startup Albania, an agency focused on the support and development of startups and facilitators. The agency embraced GEW from the onset. In 2026, Startup Albania was formally recognized as the National Host for GEW Albania. 

The country's National Startup and Innovation Program, which combines policy development with direct support services, has been documented on GEN Atlas. Albania's ecosystem has also been featured in GEN Atlas as a case study in diaspora entrepreneurship, exploring how a country can turn brain drain into brain gain by connecting Albanian founders abroad to the domestic ecosystem. This also marked the 500th case study to be added to the GEN ATLAS — positioning Albania as a documented source of replicable policy innovation for other emerging ecosystems. 

Albanian startups have engaged with GEN's global programs, including the Entrepreneurship World Cup (EWC) — the world's largest startup competition, which has engaged millions of founders from more than 200 countries since 2019.  

GEN maintains extensive relationships with key Albanian ecosystem stakeholders, including the Ministry of Economy, Culture and Innovation, the Prime Minister's Office, Startup Albania, the Institute for Advanced Studies and Co-operation, Junior Achievement Albania, and Young Entrepreneurs Albania. With Startup Albania now leading the national GEW campaign and embedded in the Startup Nations community, GEN's work in Albania rests on institutional foundations built to advance entrepreneurship as a genuine driver of economic growth.