Category Archives: Business

New York’s Favorite Steak at a Kosovar’s Steakhouse

Benjamin Prelvukaj is no common Albanian in the USA. As the owner of Benjamin Steakhouse, he has managed to rank his restaurant among the best of New York City. The New York Times writes of the tough competition among the 14,000 restaurants in the city, where Mr. Prelvukaj’s steakhouse received 27 out of the possible 30 points.

The guest lineup for the steakhouse appears to attract some of the current stars from all the walks of life. From sports to movie stars, Benjamin’s Steakhouse brings its guests a unique experience.

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Have a look at some of the reviews Benjamin Steakhouse has received:

The restaurant was also featured in the Westchester Business Connection site:

Ajeti’s Cookie Factory: Kosovar Family Bonding Leads to Success

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According to a recent study of KFW (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau: Credit Institute for Redevelopment), an increasing number of Germany’s population with an immigration background establish businesses. One successful example is Gezim Ajeti, a Diaspora member who left Kosovo when he was only 13 years old. Today, he is successfully leading his Keksfabrikation (cookie production) in Germany.

Three years ago, Gezim Ajeti fulfilled his dream of being self-employed and is very thankful for his family’s support during the first tough year. His business has up to 16 workers, but his core team includes: his parents, wife, brother, and sister in law. Even today, if a big order comes in and things must be done quickly, he can count on his family. In Germany, setting up a company based on family solidarity is indeed a rare phenomenon and quite unique!

Cookies at Ajeti’s Keksfabrikation

Gezim enjoys mixing ingredients and trying out new recipes. His specialties are traditional German cookies, of which he produces up to 200.000 a day. Mr. Ajeti decided to name his company after his own name, with the aim of identifying his work with his heritage.

More Than Remittances From Our Diaspora

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Muhamet Aliu is the recipient of a brand new house. His family of six no longer fears the harsh winters. It is through the generous donation of Mr. Qemajl Ruhani that another poverty stricken family finds hope and comfort in a warm and cozy house. “It is a feeling I cannot describe, I really do not know how to thank Mr. Ruhani, this is very human of him” explains Mr. Aliu.

Currently living in Hanover, Qemajl Ruhani explains that he had been aware of this family’s condition and is extremely happy that the house has been finished ahead of the cold winter.

Mr. Ruhani is confident that the Diaspora is very giving and such activities impact the lives of the people in Kosovo directly. However, he says there is a lot more that could be done, he invites his fellow diaspora community members and civil organizations to take the lead and find and help such families in need.

Achieving More With less

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Article Originally Written and Published by www.deed-ks.org/;

The DEED Project Managers, Mr. Ardian Spahiu (UNDP) and Mr. Robert Cancel (IOM) jointly with the Mr. Vesa Kotilainen from the Finnish Embasy in Prishtina and the RDA East representatives have visited the grant receivers in Gjilan region who benefited from DEED project’s Grant Scheme activity implemented during the end of 2013. The grant-scheme was dedicated for new or existing businesses with the best business proposal and a 50% co-funding form diaspora.

Four out of eight businesses were visited where the successful implementation of the received grants was once again confirmed. With only around 8000,00 Euros in total, these four entrepreneurs (two Kosovo Alabanian and two Kosovo Serb) have shown that with a joint effort with diaspora, hard work, dedication, as well as targeted assistance, in Kosovo one can easily achieve more with less. These four grant recipients have successfully established or expanded sustainable businesses for themselves and their families. Through the assistance received by the diaspora and the Grant Scheme enabled by the Finnish Government, implemented by the DEED project jointly with RDA East, five (5) Kosovars have been fully employed and 4 others engaged part-time. Kudos to these successful entrepreneurs!
This is in continuation of DEED efforts, to support new and existing businesses in Kosovo through close cooperation with diaspora and remittance receiving households including female and minority run businesses.

From a Young Migrant to a Factory Owner

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Shkëlzen Tahiri is seen working 12 hour shifts at the Sprenger Werkzeugbau AG Factory, where detailed industrial tools are produced. However, there is a twist to his story, Mr. Tahiri is the owner of the factory, it is a company that he manages for 5 years now. Clearly, the company and the factory itself are indicators of Mr. Tahiri’s work ethic and dedication.

Originally from Dardanë, Shkëlzen and his family had migrated to Switzerland when he was just 12 years old. His father, a renown carpenter back home had continued with the same profession in Swizterland, whereas Shkëlzen had bigger plans. Shkëlzen had quickly moved upward in the industrialized world by initially getting the education and later establishing a company that supplies brand names such as ABB,Stile etc. Furthermore, the company is well known for supplying goods to markets in Italy and Germany. Shkëlzen does not have an authoritarian feel towards his workers, he is often seen doing the hard work himself, working long hours and taking no days off, he even brings breakfast for his workers on a daily!

Shkëlzen is not a rare occurrence, there are countless stories of migrants working their ways up the social ladder, we are seeing more and more company owners coming from migrant backgrounds. Furthermore, the friendly worker owner approach that Shkëlzen takes has proven to be successful and exemplary. Thus once again showing that migrants do not only bring a personal story, they bring along a whole new approach of living and doing business.

Full article http://www.dialogplus.ch/

Bread, a synonym for Hasi Kosovars abroad?

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In a recent article by Altin Raxhimi for Jeta në Kosovë Magazine, we have had the opportunity to explore the history and current status of many of the Has region Kosovars in diaspora. While there are various reasons Kosovars have emigrated, what is common for many of the Hasi people is the activity they are engaged in, and that is baking delicious bread.

The bread baking tradition in the Hasi region has begun roughly around the time when the Ottoman Empire spread throughout the Balkans. “There is a specific method and spice mixture that baking bread requires, and it appears that the Hasi people have mastered it” says Sokol Canhasi, a bakery owner in Tirana, Albania. Further away, Mr. Besim Muhadri claims that Hungary has experienced an invasion of Kosovar bakeries. Similar invasion like stories are said to be for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia and even the far land of Australia.

The Hasi community migratory patterns are closely tied with the political and economic conditions of the time. Right after the second world war, people from the Hasi community have initially moved into baking bread for the Yugoslav centrally operated bread factories. Later in the 60’s, with Yugoslavia experimenting with a more open economic system, the Kosovars from Has started exploring other regions of the Balkans and operating their own bakeries. Based on an account from a prominent baker, Mr. Besim Muhadri, at the heyday of bread bakeries, Hasi Kosovars were operating a total of 800 to 1000 bakeries throughout Yugoslavia.

A second great migration occurred with the start of the Yugoslav wars throughout the 90’s. Simultaneously, Albania dragged itself out of communism and thus opened up its borders to private businesses. The Kosovar bakeries decided to move their businesses elsewhere: Tirana, Budapest, Vienna,Sydney etc. Thus, now generating an international network of Kosovar operated bakeries worldwide.

A recent success story occurred at the Hungarian daily Heti Valasz, where 400 of the 1400 bakeries in Hungary were operated by Hasi Kosovars. The secret is on the process of making, as Mr. Cekaj explains, the bread the Hasi make takes more time, and is done in an old fashion way, with no industrial additives, thus making it the best choice in the market.

Complete Article could be found at gazetajnk.com

Wall Street Journal: Kosovo Team Vies for World Cup of Plowing in Alberta, Canada

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The original article was posted at the Wall Street Journal. To read the original article follow this link.

By Alistair MacDonald

From the Olympics to soccer’s World Cup, major team sporting events refuse to recognize Kosovo as a nation. One does, though: the World Plowing Championship.

That has catapulted men like Afim Sharko and their plows to the status of sporting heroes in their Balkan homeland of Kosovo, the former province of Serbia which declared independence in 2008 but has yet to gain United Nation’s recognition as a state.

This weekend, Mr. Sharko and his team of two farmers will be in the fields of Alberta, Canada, hoping to bring home the Golden Plow — the plowing world’s equivalent of the World Cup – and burnish the national credentials of a state starved of major sporting events.

“Why shouldn’t we plow as Kosovars?” Mr. Sharko said. “This competition is very important for Kosovo,” he said.

Last year’s Kosovar entry into the World Plowing Championship was its first in any international competition, according to Mr. Sharko. They finished last on a leader board of 30, a loss Mr. Sharko, team coach, put down to lack of experience.

Despite the low placing, the team was feted back home, with a round of television appearances, newspaper interviews and a government-held reception for the returning heroes.

This week, Mr. Sharko arrived in the central Alberta town of Olds, and immediately dropped to his knees to touch soil he had long revered.

“For a plowman, this is a dream,” said Mr. Sharko, currently studying for a PhD in soil science. Almost two thirds of the soil in Kosovo is composed of clay, but in Alberta’s black soil, it’s only 20%, he said.

For the past three days Mr. Sharko’s two competitors, farmers Esad Shehu and Lulzim Shehu, have been practicing for the two-day event in which tractors are used to plow furrows in different types of field. They are judged on criteria such as speed and how straight and deep their furrows are. It’s a competition typically dominated by Irish and British teams, whose fans arrive in big groups with faces painted in their national colors.

Host nation Canada was among the first to recognize Kosovo, whose wider recognition is being stymied by Serbia. (The U.S. also recognizes Kosovo and led the air bombardment that helped clear Serbian troops from their former province in 1999.)“We welcome all Kosovars to plow in Canada as Kosovars,” said a spokesman for Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development.”

Businessmen from the Diaspora, welcomed in Kosovo

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“Forum for the Establishment of the Union of Diaspora Business” was held during May in Prishtina, attended by more than 50 entrepreneurs of large companies from Europe and the United States.

The Ministry of Diaspora, as the initiator of the project, for three days was the host of businessmen from the Diaspora during multiple visits to Kosovo municipalities where they were introduced to the possibilities of doing business in Kosovo.

In his greeting speech, Minister of Diaspora, Mr. Ibrahim Makolli said:

“Ministry of Diaspora together with members of the Diaspora itself, in order to participate more directly in the development of the country’s Diaspora, has managed to identify the best forms of interaction. In this context, we have started the establishment of the Diaspora business networks.”

Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr. Bernard Nikaj, on the other hand, emphasized the need for investment of the Diaspora businesses in the Republic of Kosovo and expressed the commitment of the ministry he leads in the creation of numerous facilities for all entrepreneurs who have projects to help the Kosovo economy.

Two successful businessmen, Mr. Lazim Destani and Mr. Elmi Berisha, representatives of business networks in Europe and the United States, expressed their willingness to further exploration of the Kosovo market, while also urged other businesses from abroad to become part of the Union, an initiative considered as extremely important.

Video: FOX Business Interview Giorgio Kolaj of Famous Famiglia

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Famous Famiglia co-founder, Giorgio Kolaj, is interviewed by FOX Business channel on June 18, 2009. This video shows the first 10 minutes of the one hour long LIVE television interview. Giorgio and his brothers founded Famous Famiglia pizzeria in New York City in 1986, and today the company has expanded its award-winning brand across the globe.

Senators and Congressmen at Richard Lukaj’s House

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Last Sunday, the successful banker, public policy advocate and philanthropist Richard Lukaj, welcomed in his house high-profile figures in US politics and successful Albanians in America.

Congressman Himes completed a political heavyweight quartet in this fundraising event which included the Governor Dan Mallo, and US Senators Chris Murphy and Blumenthal, who took opportunity to learn more about the Albanian-American community in their state and beyond.

Mr. Lukaj has been a dedicated activist and an established leader in the Albanian-American community for more than two decades. He has organized many charitable events, including one to raise awareness for “Sentebale”, a foundation initiated by Prince Harry which helps the vulnerable children of Lesotho affected by the HIV/AIDS.

During the crisis in the Balkans, he was a tireless fundraiser for humanitarian aid for Kosovo, and for the children who were orphaned and displaced by the war.

Mr. Lukaj made the opening speech, in which he drew back from the journey of his own life, from birth in a refugee camp in Italy to parents escaping dictatorships and discrimination in Albania hoping to find a better life. “No one likes to raise funds for politicians, neither the candidates nor the donors, but we are here because each of us realizes that it matters who governs” continued Lukaj, stressing the importance of the event.

He then introduced Congressman Himes, who represents Connecticut’s 4th District in the United States House of Representatives where he is serving his third term. He is a member of both the House Committee on Financial Services and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

US Senator Christopher S. Murphy was an early supporter of Kosova’s independence and of the efforts to establish peace, stability and democracy in the Balkans. “The Senator and his staff have been of great assistance to me during efforts to support our American University in Kosova”, said Lukaj as he introduced him.

Richard Blumenthal is well known for his “unprecedented five terms as Connecticut’s Attorney General, fighting for people against large and powerful special interests” host described him. He is a great advocate of immigration issues and reform in the Senate.

Governor Daniel Malloy is known in the community from the days when he was Mayor of Stamford, a city that has become home to a growing number of Albanian-Americans. “I dare call him a friend and welcomed guest at our home on many occasions”, Lukaj said of the governor.

Mr. Lukaj thanked the activists, donors, entrepreneurs, attorneys, the media and all the associates who helped him organize and run the event.

After the ceremony, there was a cocktail followed by a well-rehearsed performance by Ergin Brahimi and his musical ensemble.

The original article was posted at Illyriapress.com – Click here to read the original article