Ardian is an entrepreneur with experience in jewelry, education, entertainment, food, and telecommunications. He holds an Executive MBA degree from the IEDC – Bled School of Management (2009), and was awarded the “UNICREDIT Alumni Achievement Award” in 2012. His personal achievements include the founding of the American School of Kosova in 2003, a pre-k-12 school accredited by AdvancED.
In 2007 Ardian founded DUPLEX Club Prishtina, awarded the “FashionTV Nightlife Award”, in 2013 in Cannes, France. In 2013 he also started a telecommunications company, Albafone, which launched very well but with many difficulties, and after a serious car accident left Ardian away for 9 months, the new company had to go bankrupt.
His most recent startup is Glam Radio, which he founded with two other partners. He is also an investor and mentor to a new sensation in the city, a healthy fast food restaurant, green and protein.
Ardian is also a very active Rotarian and is one of the founding members of Rotary Club Prishtina, where they implemented over 15 projects in education and health. He was the club President in 2009-2010 and served on many other functions on a national level, such as Advisory Board Member, District Governor’s Special Representative, etc…
Tell us about the diversity of your businesses
Managing a business, managing systems, and managing people are the same in essence. It is only the specifics in the industry that make it different and you need to have the necessary set of skills and knowledge within your teams in order to make each business a success. For me creating new ventures, fulfilling people’s needs, and raising the standards in each industry so that the population gets better products and services is really my life’s purpose. Although it gets difficult and frustrating at times, it is the why that keeps me going.
Your future
My next focus is developing the ecosystem for startups, and with it an angel investor club as well. I would like to support and promote new startups, new ideas, and see our country move in this direction as this is a field we can truly compete with any country in the world, big or small, old or new, wealthy or poor. We can build the next Facebook even in Kosovo.
For CEED
As entrepreneurs, leaders, and managers, we have to always keep learning if we want to keep getting more successful. CEED does offer a lot of opportunities, especially for young entrepreneurs, managers, and leaders, but also seasoned ones with the Exclusive and Global clubs. It also offers you a lot of networking opportunities, which are also very crucial for business and career success. I recommend everyone to be part of it.
