Keiretsu Forum Southeast Europe (KFSEE) and BKT Kosova have started a revolutionary collaboration, the first of its kind beyond the region, to support startups and bring investments to Kosovo and beyond. Whereas, this partnership aims to significantly increase support for entrepreneurs and promote the development of innovations.

The President of the KFSEE Chapter, Ardian Hoxha, emphasized that the organization is growing significantly, with an increasing number of Angel investors and startups applying to present their projects. Hoxha underlined that the forum's efforts have resulted in investments in three startups and they plan to invest in more, with the hope that the number of members and investors who provide support and mentoring will increase.

“The Keiretsu Forum is growing every day. We are growing in terms of the number of Angel Investors members, we are growing in terms of the number of startups applying to present at our events, we are growing in the number of partnerships joining us to develop the ecosystem together, we are growing in terms of partnership with all players who produce start-ups, so that the supply flows", said Hoxha.

The executive director at BKT Kosova, Suat Bakkal, described the cooperation as a great opportunity to help grow startups and bring investments to Kosovo. He shared a personal example of his dream to have more successful startups in the region.

"I want to share one thing. Two weeks ago my three and a half year old daughter asked me to buy a unicorn and at that time I told her that we have the same dream with my daughter, she is 40 years younger than me but she has the same dream and we start discussing for our dreams. You know, most, after maybe 10 years, maybe 20 years, because of these changes at the global level there are many "unicorns" (Targets) and at the global level maybe now there are hundreds of "unicorns", it means that the valuation over billion euros ... 10:06 And these 'unicorns', some of them are placed in a garage with friends, as you know, some of them as investment by some big corporations in their research and development departments, but in the end all they occur in a small ecosystem. But my dream depends on you, because how can we do it, we can do it if we all come together, and this is a community and you are a member of this community. 11:04 It's very complicated right now for Kosovo, but still we can accelerate those start-ups and we can do it with the funds of all our friends, but we also have good money as a bank, so we can invest there", he said.

The executive director of KFSEE Ravik Mima has shared the latest developments, focusing on startups, in which forum members have co-invested FinqUp, Yova and BoksyAdriatic, while emphasizing that this continues to remain the first and largest bank.

"It is not the Keiretsu Forum that is the largest network of Angels in the world that chooses BKT today, this is the first, first and largest bank, the National Bank", said Mima.

On the other hand, head of the Department of Financial Institutions at BKT, Muharrem Inan spoke about the potential that Kosovo has in this regard.

In this context, Igor Madzov, KFSEE Board member, spontaneously demonstrated via his phone the virtual agent of FinqUp, an innovative fintech start-up that uses artificial intelligence for financial services or as they prefer to call themselves "the Swiss Army Knife of the digital world ". The presentation was met with interest and laughter from those present, as the virtual agent Maggie answered the questions of Igor "Okeydokey", to then continue longer with the relevant explanation.

For the successes in this direction, a panel discussion was held on the topic "Development of the ecosystem of start-ups and investments in Kosovo and the Western Balkans", in which all the speakers agreed that the fund dedicated to innovation is a necessity for the benefit of the ecosystem.

Metihe Kastrati, Director of Management at Innovation Center Kosovo (ICK) shared ICK's achievements.

"The way I see the perspective of the start-up ecosystem, I think if we zoom in a little bit and that's the best way to see progress, because if we're in that vicious cycle sometimes we're not able to see how far we've come in terms of multiple in the ecosystem, as compared to the last 12 years when ICK was funded, I think the ecosystem has become more mature in terms of the number of players and stakeholders, the number of supporters, the number of start-ups, as well as preparation and most of the people involved, the ability to contribute to the system," she said.

Country Program Officer for the Swiss Entrepreneurship Program, Co-Founder and Director of Performance at Narwhal Network Arta Istrefi spoke about the importance of supporting start-ups in Kosovo and the potential of local talent.

"I will start with Dua Lipa who I hope everyone knows, as you know she is from Kosovo, she grew up here, but to become the superstar she is today she had to go somewhere else. It's almost the same with start-ups", said Istrefi.

KFSEE member and investor in 112 start-ups, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Albania, Grant Van Cleve, who was part of the panel discussion, described the efforts to connect investors and start-ups, and underlined the importance of joining efforts to achieve international success.

“Keiretsu is the largest Angels Network, but the largest individual group of Angels was this group...In a small market dreaming of a bigger market, working together to achieve things that work across borders, in the case of the last start-up I visited they are at a giant level achieving international things, saying that our people here are smart enough to create a product that works in the world, so it doesn't even grow from a nation in two nations in five", he said.

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