“What if they say yes?” How women are building business with the right support

27 April 2026 - For six months, 34-years old Elena Vela ran a small printing and customization business from a room in her Tirana apartment. The heat press was wedged between other household furniture. Orders arrived through social media platforms. And every night, after her 6-year-old daughter would fall asleep, Elena taught herself graphic design from online tutorials.

"There were nights when I would cry," she says now, seated in the small studio she has rented since winning a mini-grant from the Municipality of Tirana. "I had so much uncertainty. How would I manage? Where would the money come from?" She pauses, then smiles. "But I was also very determined."

Elena's story reflects a reality many women face when trying to re-enter the workforce after motherhood. After giving birth, Elena, a psychology graduate, tried to return to employment twice. Both stints only lasted a few months. Long commutes, rigid working hours and lack of understanding from employers made it difficult for her to continue.

"There was zero empathy," she says. "One of my employers was herself a woman. I thought she would understand. She didn't." The pressures were the usual ones: a sick child, a nursery schedule that didn't align with office hours, a bus route that added an hour to every commute. That is why she started to think about self-employment that would help her generate some income.

Albania's EU integration path carries with it a clear expectation: that gender equality moves from policy to practice, and from practice to measurable change in people's lives. The “European Union for Gender Equality" project, implemented by UN Women, was designed precisely to accelerate this process, providing municipalities with the tools, frameworks and expertise to turn national commitments into local action.

The grant that changed everything

Everything shifted when a friend mentioned the mini-grant scheme from the Municipality of Tirana, designed to support women entrepreneurs. At first, she was skeptical.

"Someone was going to give me money, and I wouldn’t have to pay it back? I kept thinking of it as a loan," she says, laughing. "It seemed unreal." The scheme is part of broader efforts to strengthen gender equality at the local level and is supported by UN Women through the European Union-funded “EU for Gender Equality” initiative. By working with municipalities, the programme helps turn national commitments into practical support in the form of funding, training and guidance for women who want to start or grow a business.

The application form was straightforward and easy to fill out. Writing a business plan was not.

“I had to decide whether to buy a better printer first or pay the rent for a real workspace," Elena recalls. "I chose to pay the rent first. Three months without any rent pressure meant I could close the financial year properly, with that weight off my shoulders." She used the remainder of the grant to invest in equipment and restock supplies. The numbers clearly show the transformation. During the months when she worked informally from home, she produced around 100 items a month. Today, with a proper workspace and a network of suppliers, she can complete a same-size order in just two days.

A municipality at work

The mini-grant scheme Elena benefited from is not a one-off initiative. It has been in place since 2016, when it was launched as a joint effort between the Municipality of Tirana and UN Women, which helped design the operational guidelines that remain in use today. Between 2022 and 2024 the scheme supported 39 women, 14 starting a new business and 25 developing existing ones. In the same period, 78 women received business plan training, including nine women from the Roma and Egyptian communities and 27 women heads of household. Building on this momentum, the Municipality is scaling up, increasing the number of grants from 25 to 60 in response to growing demand. "We want to increase opportunities for women and girls to benefit, because this fund from the municipal budget is dedicated exclusively to women," says Adela Bushaj, Director of the Employment Promotion Directorate at the Municipality.

What makes Tirana Municipality’s approach to gender equality stand out is not just its ambition, but the way it has been built into everyday work. These efforts are anchored in the Local Action Plan for Gender Equality and are now feeding into the next planning phase. Albania’s EU integration journey requires more than ad hoc compliance; it calls for lasting change that shifts both systems and mindsets.

A shift in mindset and a future taking shape

What has changed for Elena is not just the size of her orders or the quality of her equipment — the most significant shift, she says, is in her own mentality. Mindful of how her closest family members had discouraged her in the past, today Elena is the one encouraging other women to take that first step. "I tell them: you already have the 'no' in your pocket. What if they say yes? It could completely change your prospects."

Majlinda Sinani knows this change well. As an employment specialist at the Municipality, with over 15 years of experience, she has followed Elena's journey closely since the beginning and what she has witnessed in her is something she recognizes in many of the women she works with: their self-belief growing quietly but steadily alongside their professional capabilities. "Skepticism is the biggest barrier we see across the board," she says. "Not the lack of opportunity, but the belief that the opportunity isn't really for them."

Elena is already planning her next step. Rejection of a grant application no longer devastates her and slow months with less activity no longer frighten her. She speaks with a calm confidence that feels hard-won. "Even when you hear a 'no' there are people behind the scenes who remember you. And just when you think you're about to give up, someone comes along and says: This month, we'll work together."