On February 17th, at the ‘Tonin Harapi’ Concert Hall in Tirana, 10 student start-up teams which have been part of the first Tirana Inc. pilot programme, got to pitch their business ideas in the final DEMO DAY. Their audience were EU and Member States Ambassadors, Minister of State for the Protection of Entrepreneurship, the Mayor of Tirana, university and private sector representatives, innovation ecosystem actors, friends and family.
Tirana Inc. is an initiative of five Albanian universities (Polytechnic University of Tirana, Metropolitan University, Polis University, Epoka University, Faculty of Economy at the University of Tirana) in partnership with the City of Tirana, established with the support of ‘EU for Innovation’ project, funded by the EU, the German and Swedish governments, with the aim to boost start-up creation and the strengthening of the Albanian innovation ecosystem.
Tirana Inc. first and foremost serves the aim of supporting and empowering the aspiring entrepreneurs in Albania, with no limitation of the students/ researchers/ innovators and to help ambitious young entrepreneurs to kick-start their companies, through the participation in the 100+ days of incubation programme.

Structured around the experiences of successful entrepreneurs and supported by experts in start-up entrepreneurship, pitching, customer discovery, financial modelling, and product development, Tirana Inc. is a unique programme’. A large community supported it: 25 mentors, 15 support partners and 4 sponsor companies from the private sector; they all offered a rare experience to young entrepreneurs and access to a vast network.
The DEMO DAY on Thursday, marked the “graduation” of the student start-up teams, from the one-of-a kind 12 week-incubation programme. An important part of the knowledge and skills that the young entrepreneurs obtained during the programme is the ability to effectively communicate their business ideas to potential investors and other interested stakeholders.
EU Ambassador, Luigi Soreca, present in the event, stated: “The joint efforts of member states under the umbrella of the EU for Innovation’ multi-donor action, have helped greatly in the establishing of Tirana Inc.
A project which couldn’t be more in the interest of the up-and-coming Albanian youth, also grasping the fabulous opportunity given by Tirana European Youth Capital 2022 to share visions, to present talents, to meet other people and to be engaged.”
Speaking as one of the members of Team Europe, German Ambassador, Peter Zingraf affirmed that Tirana Inc. is a shining example of the major progress that has been achieved in the innovation and start-up ecosystem since 2018, and with the support of the capacity development provided by GIZ in Albania as implementers of the ‘EU for Innovation’ project.
Swedish Ambassador Elsa Håstad focused on the great representation of female founders among the 10 pitching start-ups of Tirana Inc. and called for more female entrepreneurs, more women in tech, more women in STEM (science, technology, engineering & mathematics) to boost inclusive economic growth in Albania.
Lastly, Dutch Ambassador Reinout Vos concluded that Tirana Inc. marks an excellent example of knowledge being transferred by a Team Europe approach together with excellent local partners under the umbrella of the European Delegation to Albania and encouraged its future sustainability.
Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj wrapped his speech around the opportunities and possibilities that will arise for youngsters in the year 2022 with Tirana European Capital of Youth.
While Minister of State for the Protection of Entrepreneurship, Edona Bilali referred once more to the commitment of the Albanian government towards the support of start-ups & innovation ecosystem.
From the 10 presenting student start-ups (City Med, Click Home, Diabetic Digital Albanian App, Artsopolis Academy & Dada, Rentnow, ThreeSixty, Bite in Bytes, MeFol, Healthy Mind, Utopia Tiny House and I-Move Taxi), the experts jury awarded the top-three start-ups: RentNow, Bite in Bytes, ClickHome, with money prizes of respectively 2500 Euros, sponsored by Albtelecom, 1500 Euros, provided by Credins Bank and 1000 Euros including a workspace, given by Tirana Business Park.

Other prizes providing mentoring and consultancy, workspace, tickets to international conferences and technical tools, were handed to the start-ups by partners of Tirana Inc. and ecosystem actors such as Business Magazine, InnoSpace Tirana, INNVEST, Cloud 68, Coolab, PwC Albania & Kosovo etc.
The Demo Day was the successful grand finale of the Tirana Inc. pilot programme, powered by ‘EU for Innovation’ and implemented by GIZ with the support of Preneurz.Amsterdam. The 1st multi-university incubator in Albania, strives to continue its support for ambitious student teams with great business ideas in the years to come and become the number one destination for young entrepreneurs aiming to kick start their own companies.
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