By Ad魥 Consigny
When discovering for the first time the busy Venetian Art Mask Factory of Shkodra and its 70 workers, it is hard to believe that the whole story began with only four people to whom the venetian mask handcrafting techniques were unknown.
“The design was very simple in the beginning” is the explanation carelessly given by Edmond Angoni, as if completely unaware of the craziness of his initiative.
What is now unarguably a success story would probably have made even the bravest investor shudder 15 years ago, when this entrepreneur artist-at-heart came back from Italy to his beloved hometown and decided to produce masks for the Italian market. “It was hard,” admits Angoni, between phone calls and messages on his iPhone. Sure, there had been some mask production in the region. But those were not exactly the same kind – Soviet gas masks.
Edmond prefers to teach his workers “from zero”. This way, the production is completely under control, an important point considering that it is the “hand-made۠label that allows him to compete with mass Chinese production. Venetian masks remain one of those niche markets where quality wins over quantity. It looks like Stanley Kubrick has been sensitive to such a care for well-made products when he chose Angoni’s masks for his famous last movieEyes Wide Shut. On the company’s wall of fame, next to such an accomplishment, are also to be found eight Venetian shops, another one in Las Vegas and even exports of a Swarovski-Angoni co-production to Dubai.
If the factory’s story sounds like a fairytale for entrepreneurs, it is only because of the plot. Its background sadly offers a different face. More than revealing of a favorable environment to entrepreneurship, the factory’s success contrasts with the gloomy economy of the region. Struggling to exploit properly its touristic resources, Shkodra and its surrounding areas are an important source of migrants for both the Durres-Tirana axis and foreign countries. In 2009 the district scored second in highest unemployment peaks in Albania with 23.9% of jobless. Was it not such a success, Angoni’s factory would already stand out by the nature of the goods it produces and by the control it has over it. Manufacturing in Albania is still struggling to export finished textile and footwear goods whose production was supervised in one same factory from beginning to end. Yet, traces of this reality can be found in the factory.
“The atmosphere is good” says Angoni, explaining that working conditions matter to him. And indeed, that is the impression that one gets while walking from one worker to another, slightly disturbing them in their very focused activity. All ages are represented, among the youngest stands Ilir, 22 years old. Out of art studies, Ilir could have joined the rows of unemployed youth, so often depicted in a variation of the half-joking half-upset statement “Young people ? They spend all their day sitting, drinking coffees.” According to the INSTAT, 21.9% of the youth labor force was unemployed in 2009. But the young man from Kuk쳠was on a good timing since he started looking for a job shortly after the launch of a UN programme targeting the young unemployed (The UN joint programme on Youth Employment and Migration). In its Action Plan, the programme provides for the opening of two YES (Youth Employment Service), in Shkodra and Kuk쳮 It is thanks to those centers that Ilir and some of his fellows found their post and learned the precise art of traditional venetian mask crafting.
YES for Youth Employment Service
When entering Shkodra’s one, the visitor’s eye is firstly caught by photographs on the wall. “These are the youth during one training,”comments Fatmira Shyti, in charge of the service. Here Fatmira, assisted by 2 or 3 interns selected among the youth, helps young people in search of a job. In up to ten one-to-one meeting, Fatmira and the young jobseeker define the profile of the latter and his perspectives. Most of the young coming to the office attended university: “Those are the ones who trust this programme,” explains Fatmira. They often have wishes that the labor market in Albania fail to make come true. Fatmira tries to lower their expectations while suggesting them positions from which they still could evolve.
The difficulty is to cope with the labor reality without for all that undervaluing those young people – meaning that call centers and their lack of perspectives are not an option here. She picks an example: “the boy majored in economics at university, he wants to be manager in a big company, I have to tell him wait a minute, you can’t stay unemployed simply because you don’t find your dream job instantly, you have to do it step by step.” She proposed him to apply as a mathematics teacher. The next step is the attendance of trainings designed to learn young people how to write CV and behave while interviewed.
The center is also in close relation with the public and private sector in the city: “when there is an opportunity, I select a few young and they apply. From July 2010 to December 2011, the service was still a project and statistics were carefully collected: Out of the 1134 young that passed through the door of the service, 20.9% found a job. 57% of them were women. “They are our target group” says Fatmira, explaining that women employment is still something to be fought for in Albania. “Especially in this region, around the city, there are still a lot of very patriarchal families.” If a girl with such a background shows up, Fatmira goes to the length of visiting the family: “we explain to them that a girl can pursue a career, that she can do something other than cooking, cleaning and taking care of the baby. It is not only living on the father’s money and then on the husband’s.”
The YES also fills the gaps of the education system: for the moment no time is allocated to help the youngest decide what job they would like to do in the future or to inform them about the market needs. “They all want to become a doctor or a lawyer.” So, Fatmira visits schools: “we do trainings for the 4th and 9th grade classes.”
In addition to its evident social consequences, youth unemployment is a vital issue since it affects the prospects of young people to secure a career job and a decent wage. It also results in wasted investments in education and in a reduced taxation base. YES centers are called to multiply since Fatmira started teaching her methods to other social workers: 6 months ago centers opened in Elbasan, Fier and Durres.
Ad魥 Consigny is currently living in Tirana and interning at the Albanian Institute for International Studies. She is a 21 years old Parisian born to a Tunisian mother and a French father, she grew up with the Internet and studied Humanities, she eagerly discovers the world and believes in journalism.
