What Happened In The Albanian Startup Scene In October?

by: Vasken Spiru

Published on: November 19, 2015

The Albanian startup community was quite busy with events in October. Learn what happened at four of these events & find out what’s coming up next!

The Albanian startup and IT community has been very busy during October. Four major events kept the community charged, and with the Global Entrepreneurship Week ahead the end of this month (16-22 Nov.) it seems that there is more to come.

But let’s first have a look at the events that took place in Tirana last month and learn more about what happened.

07 Oct. – ECommerce, Learn by the Best

Guests: Kaymu, DyqanTaxi, e-Buy and Megatek
Hosted by: Garazh

The first and easiest step to go and create online revenues is selling something online. This has been the first step for many Albanian online pioneer companies and that’s why this method has always raised a lot of interest in the startup community. Garazh, based on this need organized an event inviting the 4 BIG companies involved in Albanian e-commerce: Kaymu, Dyqan Taxi, e-Buy and Megatek. The three companies and Dyqan Taxi, which is still a startup, shared not only their stories but also experiences and suggested some useful ways to resolve problems which were highlighted by the audience. This meeting opened the door to future collaborations and mentoring between new startups and existing companies.

21 Oct. – Launch of the Project “Albanian Startups Database”

Presented by: Albi Zhulali (startups.al)
Hosted by: Garazh

“I created startups.al from a need to find talented people to help me with my projects (Note: Albi is also the founder of Pinguin Technology, Softmogul). But over time startups.al developed into more than that. My mission at startups.al is to become the largest online community and an accelerant for Albanian startups to meet international investors. A place where everyone can be informed on who is who and who is doing what.” explains founder Albi Zhulali.

Convinced in the startup’s power to innovate and pull the whole community and economy forward Albi believes this is the beginning of something bigger for the Albanian startup and IT community.

22 Oct. – Startup Grind

Guest: Renis Tërshana

Startup Grind Tiranas guest this month was Renis Tërshana, founder and CEO of the R&T Group. Mr. Tërshana recalled his thoughts on his beginnings in the far 1995 when Albania was chaotic but full of opportunities. His advice focused on the importance of the right decisions at the right moment with the right recruited people. In his view, success is feeling that you achieve with the goals your work is oriented towards. The secret is not to work without failing but not to repeat past mistakes and instead learn from them. Not everyone takes the risk to start a business, sometimes it happens due to an inner force and sometimes the circumstance make you start a business. There is not a mathematical formula on being an entrepreneur but everyone will recognize the right moment.

After the presentation and Q&A session the event was informal and focused on networking, you can also watch the video below to get a deeper impression:

23-24 Oct. – #HackDayAlbania2015

Organized by: National Agency for Computer Security (ALCIRT)
Supported by: Ministry of Public Administration and Innovation
Sponsored by: Tetra Solutions, Canadian Institute of Technology (CIT) & DuaPune.com

October was the month of Cyber Security Awareness and #EUCodeWeek. That’s why just a few weeks ago the Albanian National Agency for Computer Security organized #HackDayAlbania2015 from October 23th-24th . For two days more than 30 young enthusiasts – individually or in groups – tested several security systems. In the end the Infogen team composed by Rio Sherri and Enea Dede won the competition, with Elena Çibuku and Malfor Saja winning the second price.

This was the first year this event was organized with the aim to turn it into a yearly event. The goal is to point out different individuals with high potential in information security and promote the importance of this aspect in information management.