Here is a challenge: can we write a job description for the typical Albanian entrepreneur? There is no easy answer. There is no easy way either to describe the development of entrepreneurship in a country , nor is it easy to characterise the transition process in Albania. By understanding how people with entrepreneurial ambitions navigate the uncertainty around them, trying to answer the question of who they are and who they want to be, we think we can explain why some go on to start new businesses and why others give up.

Entrepreneurship in tough times
As economic transition was unfolding in Albania, the country went through the best and worst of times, which in a certain way left their mark on the moulding of the Albanian Entrepreneur, creating a brand of Albanian Entrepreneurship in the process. Entrepreneurship is a social phenomenon, and we believe that the process of how one becomes one is socially embedded. This progress is more about shaping and focusing their business ideas and the first stages of the entrepreneurial process revolve around the ambiguity of "who am I?".
The tough times of the long years of the communist regime in Albania made people creative, resourceful and entrepreneurial in order to survive. These times, we believe, planted the seeds for the entrepreneurship of the early post-1990 years.
The main characteristics of entrepreneurs are that they are natural, hopeful risk-takers with a strong hint of entrepreneurship in their DNA, at times unable or even unwilling to comprehend the downside of their actions. They know that failure may be just around the corner, and that the bigger the prize, the further there is to fall. They know the road to success is always under construction, just as they also know that the entrepreneurial journey is one of discovery, the focus of which is not necessarily to seek new landscapes, but also to alter the perceptions and the view of what is known.

Making money, and a mark
Albanian entrepreneurs clearly understand that entering the entrepreneurship game is about making money; but it is also about making a mark. The new generation is endlessly better educated and informed than their predecessors and shamelessly entrepreneurial. For many, a dull corporate existence is not an option. They want more than just a cheque at the end of the month. many want meaning and purpose as well. Many of them want to change the world. For growing numbers of young people, creating a business has become a calling, a vocation. It is a mission in itself. They think they are offered the opportunity not just to make money but to make history in their own way in their own clusters and communities.
Through the school of hard knocks, they have learned that freedom, the lifeblood of entrepreneurs, has a price to be paid, but it means increased options as well. Along the journey of building and living their dreams, they display many characteristics, of which the most important ones are:

• orienting themselves in a sea of troubles and uncertainties even if odds of success are very slim
• delivering superior performance even under stress
• taking charge of their destiny
• working hard under uncertainty
• arriving at the future first

Skills and opportunities
At the same time they display a great need for control. Control is a major theme in the life and personality of many Albanian entrepreneurs. They often display a sense of distrust as they often live in fear of being victimised, and they want to be ready should disaster strike. They have a desire for applause when success is knocking on their door.
In their portfolio of skills, they have a good chunk of survival instinct, and survival itself as a word is very critical for them. They tend to throw their life and family and business partners into turmoil by getting into another survival battle. And then comes the relief similar to that after dodging a bullet. This gives them the energy to start afresh.
Regardless of the tides of times, the good news for entrepreneurs, whether Albanian or not, is that opportunities still abound in many areas in the country. Reality shows that there are multiple assets and liabilities in the economic landscape of Albania still waiting to be utilised. Albania is an untouched beach waiting for people to write their own name on it, leaving footprints on the sands of time.

Phases
The nature of entrepreneurial activity in Albania, has gone through some very distinctive phases, also reflected elsewhere in the region.

Phase 1: 1990-1995. The first entrepreneurs operated arbitrage imbalances in existing resources, in goods and services. They found opportunities just over the border, and brought in cheap goods from Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Russia and other countries which provided some pretty good money-making possibilities, filling the gaps in consumers' needs.
At the outset, they developed a set of 'horizontal' activities, moving horizontally across fields in whatever they could lay their hands on, and whatever offered the smallest opportunity for making a profit. Some were pretty unfortunate as they ventured into areas never stepped in before, others met 'accidental' luck and made a quick buck, which they used for funding other trading activities. Personal weaknesses in management skills led to disaster in many cases. This was a way for people in search of their economic and survival 'luck' to see where they could stick and fit in while making a living.
Sources of funds at this stage were limited, with cheap trade credits only available to the selected few, and very hard to come by. The alternative of financing through FFF - friends, family and fools - is convenient, but turns the family New Year's dinner party into a shareholders' meeting. The entrepreneurs at this stage relied primarily on trust and friendship to counter information asymmetries.
Tapping on the movement and transport of commodities such as aluminium, copper, bitumium and scrap metal gave some individuals the ability to make huge, unheard of amounts of cash quickly. Some even made huge gains selling those commodities on the world markets.

Phase 2: 1996-2001. Life went on, and so did the development of entrepreneurial business activity. The next logical big step was the importing of relatively high-quality durable consumer goods. The consumer market was growing, and people paid more attention to the choices they were making. This went hand-in-hand with an improvement in the standard of living.
Joint-ventures came into being, and entrepreneurs realised that this was not the final station in their growth spiral. There was an imbalance between the resources needed to capitalise on the new opportunities, and the resources available. The gap included not just cash, but also management skills, distribution channels, networks and technology.
In most cases, Albanian entrepreneurs were managing a portfolio of activities at any one time. Along with the management responsibilities they accumulated during the years of horizontal expansion, they acquired what they saw as a portfolio of businesses with a varying risk profile. A special characteristic of the Albanian entrepreneurial model during this phase was the cutting out of the middlemen who beforehand would cream off large portions of potential profits.

Phase 3: 2003 to present. The evolution of entrepreneurial business continued with increasing numbers of home-grown local businesses, producing products and services locally for home consumption, and some for export to world markets. At this stage, the Albanian entrepreneurs utilised a more solid resource map, as family and friends were no longer the main money source for their ventures. Asset loans, trade credits and venture capital money were now used as instruments of injecting money, keeping their business activities afloat and helping grow their undertakings.
At this stage of growth, we notice more specialisation and more focus on business activities. Entrepreneurs, known also as champions of change, depended on a strong set of competencies and business networks as the surest way to succeed. They showed maturity in protecting their achievements and were conscious that they needed to pass through numerous challenges on the way to future successes.
Until recently, Albanian entrepreneurs were short-term thinkers. Nowadays, companies understand they exist in a social context. In an increasing number of cases they understand that consumers and customers are prepared to put their wallets where their principles are. Consumers nowadays are more informed, concerned and aware about issues that directly affect their health and social well-being. A case in point is the expiry date of goods, which can no longer be manipulated like before, or labelling that now needs to be in Albanian. Knowing that reality has made entrepreneurs tailor their approach accordingly, a sure sign that the rules of business are changing. The case today is that consumer interest in ethical issues is moving the goalposts for companies.
We note with satisfaction that in the phase that represents the most seasoned and mature entrepreneur there is a qualitative change in the nature of businesses operated, a change from material inventory to knowledge-led businesses, though not yet in the volume desired.

Challenges
Entrepreneurs in Albania as elsewhere face many different challenges. They also display consistent operating weaknesses. The most profound involves the lack of marketing and sales management skills. Entrepreneurs encounter difficulties with employees and management where management is not willing to take on real responsibilities for their business activities. Many, still, are in search of short-term gains, and do not focus on finding the right business partners, meaning they are apt to deal with partners who are not totally trusting and trustworthy.
Today, entrepreneurs want to be closer to the action. They want to call the shots by flexing their entrepreneurial muscles. They want to be entrepreneurial and want to remain such. They want to challenge the business establishment while they see new wide horizons in maximising future options, meeting new people, and having new and different experiences. To be successful in these challenging but turbulent times, Albanian entrepreneurs need to focus their business activities while diversifying their carefully selected portfolio.
As they have built up their ventures to the current status, they should be prepared to build barriers for competitors coming into the business, as success attracts success. They should be on the lookout for future challenges and erect higher bars which are difficult to overcome by competitors.
Growing with the customer is a must nowadays, as the business, customers, distributors and markets become more sophisticated. Underestimating the consumer will negatively affect the chances of long-term success, and eventually kill the business itself. Investment in people as the main asset in business should be seriously considered and incorporated in the larger picture. Continuously developing the skills and abilities of the staff should be a matter of high priority.
If entrepreneurs continue to measure themselves against their local competition, they will hurt their long-term success. The reference should be the broad international standard. By doing that, chances are that they will be unbeatable, readying themselves for greener pastures.

The Entrepreneur
Going back to our initial challenge-to write a job description for the Albanian Entrepreneur, it is clear that there is no common answer. Entrepreneurship exists in a realm where each person writes his or her job description, and defines it personally. It consists of individual ideas, skill sets and success aspirations. And as Albanians understand better what entrepreneurship entails, the description they develop will become more detailed, and they will become more committed to a new conception of themselves as Albanian entrepreneurs.

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