Samir Mane is the first Albanian on Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people – and his story reads like a modern economic fairytale.

A historic milestone for Albania: Samir Mane, founder of the BALFIN Group, has made it onto the international list of billionaires published by the US business magazine Forbes for the first time – and in doing so has put an entire country on the global economic map.

Ranked 2,356th in the current Forbes list, Mane is the first Albanian ever to be officially listed as a billionaire. His entrepreneurial success story does not begin with millions in capital, but with a new start in a foreign country.

From refugee to CEO

In 1991, in the midst of the upheaval following the fall of the communist regime, Mane left his homeland of Albania for Austria as a refugee. Two years later, he started trading in household appliances in Albania. What began as a small business grew over the following decades into one of the largest economic empires in the Western Balkans.

Mane laid the foundation for his future business empire with the establishment of the Neptun electronics chain. He returned to Albania in 2005 and opened the country’s first modern shopping center. Today, the BALFIN Group owns shopping centers, electronics and toy stores, a bank and real estate projects in the United States, Canada and Austria. Its portfolio also includes logistics centers and even a private university.

A symbol of economic advancement

Mane’s inclusion in Forbes‘ list is more than just a personal success. It is symbolic of Albania’s economic boom and shows that international success stories can also come from small countries. Mane himself is now considered one of the most influential entrepreneurs in Southeast Europe – and a role model for a new generation of business founders.

Image:
Gertzenelaj, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons