LONDON/SKOPJE, Aug. 12 (Balkan View) – Young entrepreneurs across the Western Balkans have received €31.6 million in financing through the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s Youth in Business programme, which is targeting one of the region’s biggest economic challenges: helping small firms survive the transition from start-up to sustainable growth.
By mid-2025, the programme had supported more than 2,500 businesses, while over 1,000 entrepreneurs had received training, advisory services and networking opportunities, according to the EBRD.
The programme is backed by the European Union, Italy and Luxembourg and combines access to finance with business support aimed at improving management, planning and resilience.
The EBRD said very low loan-default levels among supported companies suggested that many of the businesses were growing on a relatively stable footing.
Growth becomes the harder challenge
For many young entrepreneurs, launching a business is only the first hurdle.
As companies expand, they typically face pressure on cash flow, staffing, logistics, technology and internal systems. The EBRD programme is designed to intervene at that stage, when early success is no longer enough and companies need more formal structures to continue growing.
The experiences of four entrepreneurs in Montenegro, Albania and North Macedonia illustrate how those challenges differ across sectors.
Montenegro coffee brand looks toward regional expansion
In Montenegro, Nikola Ivanović, founder of Fabrika Coffee, spent more than a decade in hospitality before creating his own brand.
He said the biggest challenge came as the company expanded and tried to maintain the same quality and customer experience across multiple locations.
“One of the biggest challenges was managing rapid growth while maintaining quality and operational consistency,” Ivanović said.
Support through the EBRD programme helped the company improve planning, organisation and internal systems, he said.
Fabrika Coffee is now looking at opening new locations, exploring franchising and investing further in sustainability and operational systems.
“Our long-term goal is to continue strengthening Fabrika Coffee as one of the leading modern hospitality brands in the region,” Ivanović said.
Albanian dairy producer moves from manual work to automation
In Albania, Gerald Zyfi, co-founder of Zyfi Farm, turned a family dairy operation into a growing business producing yoghurt, cheese and other products.
The company faced a period when its founders were investing heavily without seeing profits and considered shutting down.
“There was a moment where we seriously considered closing down,” Zyfi said.
A loan through the Youth in Business programme allowed the company to invest in equipment and shift from largely manual production to a more automated process.
“It didn’t just make us faster and more efficient. It also opened the door to innovation,” Zyfi said.
The company now sources milk from local farmers and is looking at further expansion, including agritourism.
Financing remains a barrier for young women entrepreneurs
Also in Albania, Izmirjola Musho, founder of Extrema, built a company providing legal, financial and strategic support to foreign investors entering the Albanian market.
Musho said access to finance was one of the biggest obstacles she faced as a young woman entrepreneur.
“As a young, woman-led business operating in a challenging environment, securing financing was one of our most significant hurdles,” she said.
Working capital provided through the programme helped stabilise the company’s operations and allowed it to focus on expansion rather than short-term survival.
Musho said advisory support and networking were also important.
“The Youth in Business programme was a turning point for Extrema,” she said.
North Macedonian e-commerce firm beats growth target
In North Macedonia, Kristijan Dimoski, founder of online retailer Akcija24, used financing to invest in staff, software, artificial intelligence tools and internal systems as demand increased.
Dimoski said his entrepreneurial experience included years of failed projects before Akcija24 developed into a sustainable business.
“For more than a decade, failure was often part of everyday life,” he said.
The financing gave the company additional stability as it expanded.
Akcija24 had initially forecast growth of 30% over the following six months, but instead achieved 67%, according to Dimoski.
The company is now concentrating on strengthening its presence in Serbia, which it sees as one of its key growth markets, while preparing for further regional expansion.
Small firms remain central to regional growth
The four businesses operate in very different sectors – hospitality, agriculture, professional services and e-commerce – but face a common problem seen across the Western Balkans: companies often reach a stage where growth requires more capital, stronger management and better technology than founders can provide on their own.
The EBRD programme is designed to address that gap by combining lending with advisory services rather than treating access to credit as the only constraint.
For Western Balkan economies, supporting young firms is particularly important as the region faces outward migration, skills shortages and the need to create more productive private-sector jobs.
The EBRD’s figures suggest that access to finance is increasingly being paired with support for professionalisation, technology and management – factors that may determine whether promising start-ups remain small or develop into companies capable of competing across the region.