Practise analysing start-up problems, planning steps, risks, and opportunities involved in establishing a new business for IB Business Management SL.
Setting up new businesses in Albania
Gent Spahiu has worked as a teacher for 25 years in Kotë, a small town in Albania. His son Agon has just moved to Tirana, the Albanian capital, to set up a small business importing electrical appliances from Germany. Albania is one of Europe's poorest countries and its economic and political environment is difficult to conduct business in. Agon is aware of the economic and political challenges. Most of the population work in agriculture. Towns suffer from poor infrastructure. In the countryside, access to electricity can sometimes be unreliable. In 2009, Albania applied to become a member of the European Union (EU). Agon thinks that his business could benefit if Albania joins this regional trading bloc.
As Agon now lives away from home, Gent wants to use the free time that he now has in the evening. He wants to give local people the skills and knowledge necessary in a modern society. He imagines an evening school for adults, with classes in subjects such as English, basic computer skills and business. To pay for the overheads and teachers' wages, Gent is thinking about the following sources of finance for the evening school:
Gent has work colleagues who have agreed to teach for very low wages; their main motivation is non-financial. Gent's evening school will follow business principles, especially for quality management, but his aim is not primarily to make a profit, it is rather to make improvements to society.
Analyse the main problems that a business start-up may face in a less economically developed country such as Albania.