The bakery has a sales department, a marketing department, a number of enthusiastic employees... but no bread. No, this is not a money laundering operation, but an educational initiative working in Peja.
The bakery is one of 46 'training firms' established in Kosovan middle schools for students of economics. This week marks the annual national trade fair where students from all 46 enterprises come together at a large Pristina-based exhibition to share what they have done, what they have learned and the good practice they have developed. It's a time to celebrate a significant practical step in the development of Kosovo's business sector.
The training firms deal in virtual money and virtual products but this is not just 'playing shop' - the students working in the training firms have to apply to work in one of the Firm's departments, and fulfil all the obligations of a real firm, registering the company on Kosovan Government forms, paying taxes and insurance. The firms offer an opportunity for young people to learn bookkeeping, marketing, sales, management and more. A teacher who works in one of the schools implementing the Training Firms project says that the first cohort of students who had experience of the approach have now all enrolled in university or found work in shops and businesses, and he attributes this to their experience of the project at school; 'this is the most sophisticated project and the most needed project being implemented in this area of education' says teacher Agim Mulliqi from Peja. Indeed, the idea itself has graduated now and is also being used at university level in Kosovo.
My experience of working, planning, drinking coffee with young Kosovars always leaves me excited and inspired. There is no lack of initiative or ideas, and I always leave these discussions with an exhilarating sense of possibility. I have never heard a Kosovar say 'but are we allowed?' - for good and for bad, the attitude of mind which I see slowing down the imagination of their British peers doesn't trouble most of my Kosovar friends. However, it is also true that many - too many - of the brainstorms in a coffee cup never come to anything. In Kosovo there isn't always an understanding or experience of how to bring a project to fruition; there can be impatience with the tedious bureaucratic steps which are necessary for even the most creative idea; sometimes the timescales are unrealistic and work is given up too quickly. The Training Firms are a way of equipping Kosovo's young people with the skills to bring their ideas out of the coffee cup and onto a balance sheet, bringing economic rewards for the individuals and for their country.
The projects focus on Kosovo-size (small- and medium-size) companies. The schools involved (in Ferizaj, Gjakova, Gjilan, Malishevo, Mitrovica, Peja, Podujevo, Pristina and Prizren) have been equipped with the computers necessary to run the software for the training firms, provided by the Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Austrian Development Agency. The curriculum for the Training Firms was developed in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and is supported by real businesses such as Peja Beer and IPKO who believe that through this investment in the education of young people, they ensure better-trained staff for the labour market, and thus for their own needs. There is no lack of high level support for the project.
And in a year's time, the students who are now being trained will be out in the workplace. I am looking forward to walking into that well-marketed, well-managed, fully-registered bakery, and being able to smell the fresh pitalka.
The training firms deal in virtual money and virtual products but this is not just 'playing shop' - the students working in the training firms have to apply to work in one of the Firm's departments, and fulfil all the obligations of a real firm, registering the company on Kosovan Government forms, paying taxes and insurance. The firms offer an opportunity for young people to learn bookkeeping, marketing, sales, management and more. A teacher who works in one of the schools implementing the Training Firms project says that the first cohort of students who had experience of the approach have now all enrolled in university or found work in shops and businesses, and he attributes this to their experience of the project at school; 'this is the most sophisticated project and the most needed project being implemented in this area of education' says teacher Agim Mulliqi from Peja. Indeed, the idea itself has graduated now and is also being used at university level in Kosovo.
My experience of working, planning, drinking coffee with young Kosovars always leaves me excited and inspired. There is no lack of initiative or ideas, and I always leave these discussions with an exhilarating sense of possibility. I have never heard a Kosovar say 'but are we allowed?' - for good and for bad, the attitude of mind which I see slowing down the imagination of their British peers doesn't trouble most of my Kosovar friends. However, it is also true that many - too many - of the brainstorms in a coffee cup never come to anything. In Kosovo there isn't always an understanding or experience of how to bring a project to fruition; there can be impatience with the tedious bureaucratic steps which are necessary for even the most creative idea; sometimes the timescales are unrealistic and work is given up too quickly. The Training Firms are a way of equipping Kosovo's young people with the skills to bring their ideas out of the coffee cup and onto a balance sheet, bringing economic rewards for the individuals and for their country.
The projects focus on Kosovo-size (small- and medium-size) companies. The schools involved (in Ferizaj, Gjakova, Gjilan, Malishevo, Mitrovica, Peja, Podujevo, Pristina and Prizren) have been equipped with the computers necessary to run the software for the training firms, provided by the Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Austrian Development Agency. The curriculum for the Training Firms was developed in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and is supported by real businesses such as Peja Beer and IPKO who believe that through this investment in the education of young people, they ensure better-trained staff for the labour market, and thus for their own needs. There is no lack of high level support for the project.
And in a year's time, the students who are now being trained will be out in the workplace. I am looking forward to walking into that well-marketed, well-managed, fully-registered bakery, and being able to smell the fresh pitalka.
The author can be reached at elizabethgowing at hotmail dot com.
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