What happens when academia and business move beyond operating in separate worlds and start working together to prepare young people for the realities of today’s labour market?
The latest episode of Think Big takes us inside One Academy as it celebrates a significant milestone: 10 years of investing in education, talent development and stronger connections between academia and business.
Think Big joined One Academy’s graduation ceremony to explore how the initiative has evolved over the past decade and why partnerships between universities and companies are becoming increasingly important — not only for students and young professionals, but also for businesses looking to build the skills and talent they will need in the future.
Beyond the graduation ceremony, the episode opens a broader conversation about bridging academic knowledge with hands-on experience and real business needs.
How do companies identify and develop talent? What skills are employers looking for today? And how important is it for businesses to take an active role in developing the capabilities their organisations will require tomorrow?
In this episode, we speak with Marinela Benga, Head of Talent Management and Organizational Performance at One Albania, about the vision behind One Academy, its development over the past 10 years, and how the programme supports One Albania’s broader talent and organisational development strategy.
Representing the academic perspective, Dr. Martin Serreqi, Lecturer in the Department of Management at the Faculty of Economics, University of Tirana, discusses the role universities can play in preparing students for an increasingly dynamic labour market.
Marjana Prifti Skënduli, Founder & CEO of AI Albania and Assistant Professor at New York University Tirana, brings another important dimension to the conversation, focusing on emerging skills and the impact that technology and Artificial Intelligence are having on how we learn, work and build careers.
The episode also features Irida Bonati, Deputy CEO & Chief HR Officer at One Albania, who shares the company’s perspective on human capital and why long-term investment in people is becoming increasingly important for sustainable business growth. With extensive leadership experience in human resources and corporate management, Bonati also reflects on the role companies can play in building the next generation of professionals.
Ultimately, this episode is about much more than a graduation ceremony.
It is the story of 10 years of One Academy — a decade of collaboration between business, academia and professionals around a shared ambition: to turn education into opportunity and talent into long-term professional potential.
It is also a model in which graduation is not simply the end of an educational programme, but the beginning of the next stage of a professional journey.
The full episode premieres on October 1 at 20:15 on the official Business Magazine Albania YouTube channel.
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