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'Forbes' magazine article about Zamir Mane: How Albania's first billionaire became a refugee
In this article, Forbes has shown the entire journey of the first Albanian to be included in the list of billionaires around the world.
The prestigious magazine shows that Mane started his business path since he was in college, where he bought meat and cooked meatballs to sell to students.
He then emigrated and in 1993 set up his first business in Austria called Alba-Trade, which had video recorders, radio, TV and home appliances, from where he sent them to Albania.
Full article:
On a sunny October day in Albania's capital, Tirana, Samir Mane shines as he walks through his Tirana East Gate shopping mall, a 1.2 million square metre temple to capitalism with international brands ranging from Adidas and Swarovski to Burger King and KFC. The largest shopping mall in Albania, it is indistinguishable from the sprawling glass and steel shopping complexes in any major European city – and that's the point.
"This is our main asset. It's 100% rented," he boasts, putting out a list of tenants, including clothing retailers H&M and Zara plus Albania's first sushi restaurant and some of his businesses, including a clothing retailer, a toy store and a consumer electronics chain. "People want to be able to touch products. We have every tangible business in Albania."
Wearing a dark blue jacket over a black Lacoste polo shirt, Mane could pass for one of the shoppers strolling out on Monday mornings. But the 57-year-old tycoon is Albania's first and only billionaire, the richest person in this small Mediterranean country with only 2.8 million inhabitants. Thanks to his investments in retail, real estate, and banking, he has built a fortune of $1.4 billion, according to Forbes estimates, earning him a spot on Forbes' 2025 World Billionaires list. It is not something he ever expected as a 23-year-old refugee fleeing Albania's communist regime in 1991. "I never thought this was possible. My dream was to have my own house or have a car," he says.
Now, its conglomerate BALFIN Group operates in 10 countries and recorded a net profit of $120 million on sales of $880 million in 2024, 31% and 14% respectively from 2023. About 62% of revenue comes from retail, followed by real estate with 20%, banking with 9%, and logistics and asset management accounting for the rest. Mane owns it all, but he's brought partners to his shopping malls, retail chains, and real estate development projects.
His footprint is visible throughout the capital of Albania, where he has lived since returning to his home country in 2005. He owns Tirana Bank, the fifth largest bank in Albania; its Neptune electronic chain is the largest in the country; And he owned the largest supermarket chain until he sold it for $48 million in March. Traveling around town in his black Mercedes-Maybach SUV, he drives his driver to Rolling Hills, a luxury residential complex he built where he also owns a 33,000-square-foot mansion.
"I bought the land in 2008, it was very cheap at the time," he says, looking at a space of 153 neoclassical-style villas overlooking the mountains around Skanderbeg. Land values in the area have increased more than tenfold during this time, and Mane has continued to build. Adjacent is another Balfin-owned development, Collina Verde, and Mane has another under construction from an artificial lake that is expected to cost $240 million and will be completed in 2028.
"No one, not even my father, believed that it would work.", Samir Mane
Mane's wealth does not stop at the borders of Albania. He owns retail stores in nearby Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia, including Skopje East Gate, the largest hub in North Macedonia. Beyond the Western Balkans, it has also started investing in apartment buildings and offices in Austria and Canada plus in New York and New Jersey.
Explaining his approach, he shares the lessons he learned from reading books from American business icons such as former longtime General Electric CEO Jack Welch: "Welch said you have to be diversified. Albania is small, so we thought, why don't we go to other countries and other industries?"
Mane was born in 1967 in the southern Albanian city of Korça during the reign of Enver Hoxha, the country's communist strongman. Domestic travel was very limited, and Mane rarely left his hometown until he went to university in Tirana at the age of 18, where he studied geology.
"I didn't choose geology. It was the communist party that decided what to study," he recalled. During his college years, Mane bought meat to make meatballs and sold it to students to earn extra money — until, six months into his side hustle, the authorities stopped him. In 1991, while still a student, he decided to leave the country to seek a better life. He obtained an Austrian visa from a travel agency and made a 36-hour, non-stop bus journey to Vienna, where he registered as a refugee. (He later learned that the visa issued by the agency was fake, but no one stopped him.)
He spent more than six months in a refugee camp, studying German on his own, until he became good enough to apply to the Technical University of Vienna to pursue his geology degree. In 1992, Albania's communist regime collapsed. "Albania opened up a little bit and people were coming to Vienna to buy electronic devices. So I saw an opportunity," he says.
He dropped out of university in 1993 and began translating for several exporters before getting into the business on his own. That same year he set up a business called Alba-Trade, which bought video recorders, radios, televisions and household appliances in Austria and shipped them to Albania. He would load the trucks himself and then make the two-day journey from Vienna to Tirana, sleeping in the truck to save money and protect the goods. He found a place in Tirana, parked his truck and customers just showed up. "We sold all the goods in the truck in three hours," he says. "But in Austria, I saw that it was possible to sell products in the right way in stores."
To understand the business, Mane read books not only from Jack Welch, but also from Walmart founder Sam Walton. "One of them taught me how to run a retail business, and the other taught me how to run a corporation," he says.
He opened the first Neptun store selling TVs and home appliances in Tirana in 1996. Two years later it expanded to North Macedonia and then to Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro, becoming one of the first foreigners to enter those markets when new countries emerged from the break-up of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.
"He is a visionary to have the right concept at the right time. He identified the need for equipment in the Western Balkans when we did not have washing machines," says Edlira Muka, CEO of BALFIN. Mane's success also reflected the economic boom in those countries as they transitioned to capitalism: "He represents one of the largest conglomerates in Albania and is a sign of the economic growth and change that the country has seen," adds Martin Mata, co-CEO of the Albanian-American Enterprise Fund (AAEF), a non-profit investment fund founded in 1995 to help Albania in a market economy.
By the early 2000s, Mane had built a consumer electronics empire across the Western Balkans, with 19 stores and $50 million in revenue, sourcing most of its goods from Asia. But seeing the success of Western brands and shopping malls in post-communist Eastern Europe, he thought he could do the same in Albania. In 2005, he moved his family from Vienna to Tirana to open the country's first shopping mall on the outskirts of the capital.
To anchor the mall, he needed a grocery store. So Mane travelled across Europe meeting the heads of supermarket chains to convince them to open stores in Albania. "They said, 'Mr. Mane, we look at the GDP figures. Nobody is coming,'" he recalled. (Albania's GDP at that time was only $8 billion, compared to the current $24 billion.) "So I decided to open a supermarket chain myself. I hired a Frenchman from Carrefour and built the first modern grocery store in Albania."
Ishte një lëvizje ambicioze. Në atë kohë, më shumë se 30% e ekonomisë shqiptare ishte joformale, duke punuar në industri të parregulluara që nuk paguanin taksa. Mane duhej të bindte legjionet e konsumatorëve të konvertoheshin në kapitalizmin e stilit perëndimor dhe të paguajnë mallra në një qendër tregtare dhe jo në tregjet e lagjes.
"Askush, as babai im, nuk besonte se do të funksiononte," thotë Mane. "Ata thanë, 'Pse dikush duhet të vozisë dy orë për të blerë domate?'" Në fillim, Mane luftoi për të gjetur investitorë, madje edhe fondet që e kanë mbështetur atë që atëherë ishin skeptikë për planet e tij në atë kohë. "Ne nuk ishim të bindur," thotë Aleksandër Sarapuli, bashkë-CEO i AADF.
Mane përfundimisht bindi Bankën Evropiane për Rindërtim dhe Zhvillim, një bankë zhvillimi me bazë në Paris, të investojë 15 milionë dollarë në financimin e borxhit dhe kapitalit për dyqanin e tij ushqimor. Në tetor 2005, ai hapi Qendra Tregtare Univers në Tiranë, me një dyqan elektronike Neptun dhe postin e parë të zinxhirit të tij ushqimor Euromax. Rrugët ishin të mbushura me makina në ditën e hapjes dhe Mane u hodh dhe drejtoi trafikun në parkingun e vogël. "Për të gjithë skeptikët, ne kishim mijëra njerëz që prisnin në autostradë," shton Steven Grunerud, shefi financiar kanadez i BALFIN, të cilin Mane e punësoi në vitin 2007 nga banka austriake Raiffeisen për të profesionalizuar biznesin e tij.
Kur Mane më vonë vendosi të hapte qendrën tregtare edhe më të madhe Tirana East Gate, ai kishte provuar konceptin e tij dhe kishte fituar më shumë investitorë se më parë. "Ai nuk pretendonte se e dinte se si drejtohet një qendër tregtare, por ai mori ekspertizë, ndoqi modelin dhe dëgjoi njerëzit që dinin ta bënin atë," thotë Mata i AADF, i cili vlerëson se fondi trefishoi investimin e tij kur shiti aksionet e tij në qendër tregtare përsëri te Mane në mars.
Mane ndërtoi mbi këtë sukses duke marrë një rol gjithnjë e më të madh në ekonominë e Shqipërisë. Shumë nga investimet kanë rënë: Ai bleu Tirana Bank në 2019 dhe 2020 nga huadhënësi grek me probleme Piraeus Bank për 64 milionë dollarë, dhe banka, me 1.7 miliardë dollarë asete, tani vlen rreth 155 milionë dollarë. Sipërmarrjet e tjera nuk kanë qenë aq të suksesshme. Mane mori rrjetin e lajmeve financiare me bazë në Tiranë Scan TV në vitin 2022, por e shiti atë një vit më vonë me një humbje prej afërsisht 2.2 milionë dollarësh.
Pasuria e tij ka sjellë gjithashtu një shqyrtim më të madh. Në tetor, Prokurori i Posaçëm Kundër Korrupsionit (SPAK) arrestoi ish-presidentin shqiptar Ilir Meta me akuza të dyshuara për korrupsion. Mane – i cili nuk është akuzuar për asnjë krim – thuhet se është cituar në dokumente se i ka ofruar Metës dhe gruas së tij të atëhershme Monika Kryemadhi, deputet, një vilë në kompleksin Rolling Hills me vlerë pak më pak se 1 milion dollarë (Meta ka apeluar arrestimin e tij dhe Kryemadhi i ka mohuar akuzat).
"Nëse je një biznesmen i shquar në Shqipëri, ke një lidhje shumë të fortë me politikën. Nuk është për t'u habitur që Mane e kishte këtë lidhje me Metën", thotë Afrim Krasniqi, profesor i shkencave politike në Universitetin e Tiranës.
Mane i mohon kategorikisht akuzat, duke i quajtur ato "të pabaza dhe të provuara të rreme nga autoritetet shqiptare" dhe thotë se nuk ka pasur kurrë një marrëdhënie të ngushtë personale me Metën. "Unë kurrë në jetën time nuk jam hetuar, akuzuar apo ndjekur penalisht, as për këtë çështje, as për ndonjë tjetër", shton ai.
Në botën e ashpër të ekonomisë shqiptare, Mane krenohet që nuk hyri në arenën politike ose nuk përfitoi nga privatizimi i bizneseve shtetërore në vitet 1990. "Unë kurrë nuk kam qenë në politikë dhe nuk është aspak qëllimi im," thotë ai. "Unë kurrë nuk kam marrë pjesë në asnjë privatizim. Në vendet ish-komuniste, nëse je i pasur, populli të konsideron oligark. Por unë ndërtova pasurinë time në Austri dhe u ktheva."
Mane tani po kërkon të zgjerohet edhe më tej në Evropën Lindore. Ai po planifikon një ekskluzivitet të ri të Jumbo, një zinxhir dyqanesh lodrash greke, në Moldavi. Dhe ai po shton marka të tjera në perandorinë e tij, duke nënshkruar një marrëveshje me zinxhirin danez të dyqaneve të varieteteve Flying Tiger Copenhagen me plane për të hapur 50 dyqane në katër vitet e ardhshme.
Por ai ende sheh premtime në vendin e tij, me turizmin ndërkombëtar si një ndryshim të mundshëm për ekonominë e Shqipërisë. Ai zotëron Green Coast, një zhvillim luksoz në Detin Adriatik që është planifikuar të shfaqë hotele nga markat ndërkombëtare duke përfshirë Accor, Grand Melia dhe Hyatt plus 2,600 vila dhe apartamente. Faza e parë e projektit, e cila pritet të kushtojë 900 milionë dollarë për t'u ndërtuar në përgjithësi, u hap në vitin 2022 dhe Mane tashmë ka grumbulluar një fitim prej gati 150 milionë dollarësh nga shitjet e pronave.
"Është një projekt i mahnitshëm, ne do të bëjmë shumë, shumë mirë atje," thotë Mane. Por ai nuk është i vetmi që shikon plazhet e paprekura të Shqipërisë mesdhetare, të cilat rivalizojnë ato të Kroacisë aty pranë – pa turma. Miliarderi i pasurive të paluajtshme në Dubai, Mohamed Alabbar po zhvillon një resort luksoz prej 2.5 miliardë dollarësh dhe një pornë turistike superjahtesh në veri, ndërsa dhëndri i Donald Trump, Jared Kushner dhe firma e tij e kapitalit privat Affinity Partners po planifikojnë një zhvillim luksoz prej 1.5 miliardë dollarësh në ishullin Sazan në jug.
Për Mane, sa më shumë investime në vendin e tij, aq më mirë. "Më pëlqejnë projektet, shpresoj që ta bëjnë atë. Do të jetë e mahnitshme për Shqipërinë", shton ai. Më shumë vizitorë nga jashtë do të thotë më shumë klientë për dyqanet e tij me pakicë dhe më shumë blerës të mundshëm të vilave të tij. "Shitje me pakicë, pasuri të paluajtshme dhe turizëm. Kjo është e ardhmja jonë."
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