TIRANA, Sept. 14 – Only one woman made it to the top 10 richest Albanians for 2016, with the four richest remaining unchanged for the second year in a row, a study has shown.
Female entrepreneur Vilma Nushi, the largest distributor for detergents, tobacco and alcoholic beverages, was the 10th richest Albanian for 2016 based on 50/50 ratio of net assets and earnings reported with the National Business Center. In 2014, her main Marketing & Distribution company was announced the winner of a 10-year concession contract with the Albanian government to provide free medical check-ups to people aged between 35 to 70 years old in return for annual government financial support. The concessionaire will get 787 million lek (€5.7 million) in financial support for 2017 alone, according to the 2017 budget.
Women run some 43,000 in Albania, only slight more than a quarter of total enterprises. The overwhelming majority of women-run businesses are small businesses with up to four employees.
Samir Mane and Shefqet Kastrati were Albania two richest men for the second year in a row.
Mane, whose companies are involved in trade, construction and mining, had been previously named by Wealth-X intelligence provider as Albania’s first billionaire with an estimated fortune of US$1.2 billion.
Shefqet Kastrati is an Albanian oil tycoon whose Kastrati company has a market share of more than 50 percent in the wholesale and retail oil trade and holds exclusive rights to trade Mercedes vehicles in Albania.
Earlier this year, Samir Mane and Shefqet Kastrati teamed up to diversify their investments in the insurance market by acquiring the life insurance segment of the newly privatized INSIG insurer.
Third comes Vasil Naà§i, the owner of a large food and beverage production and distribution chain followed by Behar Cukaj, the owner of Bolv-oil company.
Politician Tom Doshi, a former Socialist Party MP, who was elected an MP with the Social Democrats in his fourth consecutive term as MP in 2017, was the fifth richest Albanian. Doshi’s main business is the Profarma Albanian pharmaceutical company.
Three construction entrepreneurs, Rrok Gjoka, Idajet ismailaj and Pellumb Salillari also made it to the top 10 richest list.
Grigor Joti, a hardware and software distributor was the seventh richest Albanian for 2016.
The Pashko European Institute, which conducted the study, says the government should consider the country’s richest entrepreneurs as a national asset and undertake a partner approach in every reform affecting them.
“It is only through mutual loyal and functional partnership that the government-business relationship has the highest yield and most positive impact on every sector of the economy and citizens’ lives,” says the study.
The Pashko European Institute is a Tirana-based think tank named after Gramoz Pashko, a late Albanian economist and politician who led the country’s shock therapy in the early 1990s when the communist regime and its planned economy collapsed.
