Albania Investment Council: Main News, October – December 2022
- January 18, 2023
ADVOCATING FOR FDI POLICIES TO INCREASE COMPETITIVENESS OF WOMEN-LED SMEs
12 October 2022
At a round table organised by the Women’s Economic Chamber-Albania with a focus on the investment climate and green economy, the Secretariat of Investment Council highlighted the importance of FDI policies that spur local innovation, management, and export promotion & technology at the firm level. More specifically, these policies are indispensable for sustaining the competitiveness of local women-owned SMEs and stimulating those that create local SMEs’ added value, including extracting industries.
The Secretariat also encouraged women entrepreneurs to be more proactive in advocacy through women’s associations since together, they can better voice and defend their business issues. Women’s Economic Chamber-Albania (WECA) became a member of the Investment Council in January 2022. One of its main objectives is to influence and lobby for the strengthening of women’s entrepreneurship and careers.
BUILDING TIMELY IC EVIDENCE THROUGH CONSULTATION FOCUSED ON LOCAL SKILLS SHORTAGES
September-October 2022
In close cooperation with its business partners, Secretariat conducted consultations regarding challenges of the labour market in Albania from the viewpoint of the private sector, relevant public administration, and young people. More specifically:
- Direct interviews with 37 public and private sector stakeholders in 6 districts
- 1 focus group with young people and experts
- 1 Survey with 253 companies
- 1 Survey with 262 young people
Preliminary findings of the consultation process evidenced that the unavailability of the labour force in the country is a crucial challenge especially for the trade, construction and industry sectors seeming to suffer the most.
PLENARY MEETING: INVESTMENT COUNCIL ON THE LABOUR SKILLS AVAILABILITY AND QUALITY
26 October 2022
Chaired by the Minister of Finance and Economy, Ms Delina Ibrahimaj, the IC held a plenary meeting to discuss the private sector’s concerns about the availability and quality of the workforce in the country. During her speech, Minister Ibrahimaj stressed the importance of labour skills to fulfil current business needs, especially taking into consideration the transformation of the market in recent years due to digitisation. During the open discussion session, the business representatives expressed their concerns about the current market labour challenges and put forward several suggestions.
NEW PUBLICATION: ON THE AVAILABILITY OF THE WORKFORCE AND QUALITY OF SKILLS
21 November 2022
What do MSME entrepreneurs consider as key reasons related to the unavailability and quality of skills in the local market?
Shifting the MSMEs’ owners (CEOs) mindset toward human capital value creation could be the key, while other supporting measures, such as providing career opportunities for youngsters and investing in employee learning and development, remain indispensable. In this twofold perspective, the Secretariat brings into focus the immediate challenge of the availability and quality of the workforce in the country from the perspective of the private sector and from the perspective of young jobseekers to balance expectations and facts.
SURVEY FINDINGS: “ON THE YOUNG WORKFORCE CHALLENGES”
30 November 2022
What do young people think about access to the labour market and local working culture? As the new generation of young people enters the labour market, this question has never been more important. To timely facilitate the dialogue between job seekers and entrepreneurs and to stimulate relevant stakeholder actions, the Secretariat in cooperation with the Young Professionals Network (YPN) and the Economic Faculty of the University of Tirana (FEUT) conducted a survey with 262 young people to understand their specific needs and challenges to entering the labour market.
SURVEY FINDINGS: “ON LABOUR AVAILABILITY AND QUALITY”
5 December 2022
Uncertainties of Albanian SMEs & entrepreneurs on how to tackle skills shortages are recently explored by the latest IC survey with 253 companies. The survey shines a light onto:
- Shortage of workforce and lack of skills
- Sourcing channels for finding workforce
- Main challenges companies face in the labour market
- Perception about the most widespread forms of informality
The survey finds that companies face a challenging recruitment context, with three-quarters reporting that they have hard-to-fill vacancies. Trying to address workforce skills shortages, they are now focusing mostly on increasing in-company training and/or reorganising themselves.
TO BETTER AFFORD BUSINESS RISKS – ENTREPRENEURS’ DECISIONS NEED MORE DIGITALISATION AND DATA
15 December 2022
At the Launching Event “Women Entrepreneurs and Gender Perspective in Business Value Chain” organised by the Gender Alliance for Development Centre, the Secretariat of Investment Council highlighted that the pandemic took by surprise all the social-economic functioning structures of society, including the business world. So Covid-19 pushed the state and the business to re-dimension their roles and level of cooperation, approaching entrepreneurship to science and increasing the need for data-driven decision-making. While women and young people wanting to invest in Albania need to get updated information about doing business, also through collaboration with business associations and chambers.
CONTRIBUTION TO THE DRAFT NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR EMPLOYMENT AND SKILLS 2023-2030
23 December 2022
At the consultation meeting organised by the Ministry of Finance and Economy (MFE), the Secretariat advocated recent IC work and its recommendations, stressing the importance of the moment that this strategy is being drafted, urging business associations and companies to invest more in human capital and corporate governance. While the government needs to allocate attention to the institutional coordination capacities on consultation platforms, specifically in terms of their proceedings, and takeaways. This becomes a priority in view of the EU process.
Technical Working Document “On the Availability of the Workforce and Quality of Skills” | October 2022
On The Availability Of The Working Force And Quality Of Skill
PPT Presentation “On the Availability of the Workforce and Quality of Skills” | October 2022
On The Availability Of The Working Force And Quality Of Skills
Matrix of Recommendations “On the Availability of the Workforce and Quality of Skills” | October 2022
Draft Summary Of Minutes Of Meeting Investment Council (KI)
Minutes of the Plenary IC Meeting XXVIII | October 2022
Draft Summary Of Minutes Of Meeting Investment Council (KI)
Survey Findings “On the Workforce Challenges” | October 2022
Findings Of The Secretariat’s Survey “on The Workforce Challenges”
Survey Findings “On Labour Availability and Quality” | October 2022
Findings Of The Ic Survey “on Labour Availability And Quality”
INVESTMENT COUNCIL’S MENTIONING IN THE MEDIA
ABOUT ALBANIA INVESTMENT COUNCIL
Investment Council is a platform set up by the Albanian authorities with support from the EBRD to intensify the dialogue between the government and the private sector, improve the business climate and promote good governance. The work of the Council is supported by a Secretariat, an independent body of professionals selected and contracted by the EBRD to engage with the business community directly. Investment Council is supported by the Ministry of Finance and Economy, EBRD and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).
