Kushtrim Xhakli

Fast Europe Ventures bring mobile payment for Kosovo and region

Kushtrim Xhakli — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:12:43 +0000

July 1, 2009 – Its a fact that in the world there are 4 billion mobile phone users, but only 2 billion bank accounts holders. This is not just an information but a reason for an alternative payment service using mobile launched today by the company Fast Europe Ventures in collaboration with portal Telegrafi.com. This service in essence turns your phone into a mini-credit card, and allows you to pay from the mobile, using credit that you have in your mobile phone.

Telegrafi portal has launched a service “Advertising” where the consumer can put an advertisement which can be seen by over 80.000 visitors and potential customers per day. The entire process of putting an ad is extremely simple, cheap and quick.

Currently all mobile operator subscribers can use this service, except Vala Mobile customers, who will soon be part of it. Since the beginning of this year, the company Fast Europe Ventures has been engaged with local operators and partners in Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia to bring the m-payment (m-commerce) service in the region connecting all three countries into single payment gateway.

“Based on the fact that in Europe the average spending per person for m-payments is around 30-50 Euros, in this region with an estimation of 10 Euros spending per person over a year, it is expected to reach a turnover of 15-20 million Euros a year in next 10 years”, said Kushtrim Xhakli, Chief Executive Officer of Fast Europe Ventures.

M-payment model is most suitable model for monetizing media such as TV, radio and web. Telegrafi portal is the most popular site across Albanian speaking countries and the first partner implementing m-payment.

Managing Director of Telegrafi portal Gani Lajqi said: “We are now entering a new competitive field in global market providing quick information, services and access. In recent years Telegrafi has proved to be the most innovative portal in Albanian market with 80% market share. Our partnership with Fast Europe Ventures proved to be fruitful and it will be enhanced in future. ”

The link where you can put your announcement and pay with mobile phone is at: http://www.telegrafi.com/shpallje, or “Shpallje” button in every Telegrafi portal page.

Fast Europe Ventures covers 2.8 million mobile subscribers in Western Balkan region.

Elsewhere:
Telecompaper: Fast Europe, Telegrafi partner on m-payments in Kosovo
PC World Albanian: FEV sjell shërbimin e ri M-Payment në Kosovë
New Kosova Report: Fast Europe Ventures and Telegrafi bring mobile payment to Kosovo and the region
TMCnet: ‘Fast Europe, Telegrafi partner on m-payments in Kosovo’
The Paypers: Fast Europe Ventures, Telegrafi launch mobile payment service in Kosovo
Telegrafi: Telegrafi dhe FEV sjellin m-payment për Ju

Telegrafi dhe FEV sjellin m-payment për Ju

Kushtrim Xhakli — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:20:01 +0000

Ne botë ka 4 miliard telefona mobilë, por vetëm 2 miliard llogari bankare. Kjo nuk është vetëm një informatë, por, është një arsye për një alternativë të pagesës së shërbimeve përmes telefonit tuaj mobil, e lansuar sot nga kompania Fast Europe Ventures në bashkëpunim me portalin Telegrafi.com.

Ky shërbim në esencë e kthen telefonin tuaj në një mini-kredit kartë, që ju lejon të paguani për gjëra “nga celulari”, duke përdorur kreditin qe keni në telefonin tuaj mobil.

Me këtë rast, portali Telegrafi ka lansuar shërbimin “Shpallje” ku në mënyrën më të shpejtë të mundshme një konsumator mund të prezantojë shpalljen, e cila do të shikohet në mënyrë instante nga mbi 80.000 vizitorë dhe konsumatorë potencialë në ditë. I tërë procesi është jashtëzakonisht i thjeshtë, i lirë dhe i shpejtë.

Për momentin të gjithë përdoruesit e celularëve mobilë kanë mundësi të përdorin këtë shërbim, përveç konsumatorëve të operatorit Vala Mobile, të cilët shumë shpejt do të kenë mundësi të jenë pjesë e ekosistemit të industrisë se telekomunikimit.

Që nga fillimi i këtij viti, kompania Fast Europe Ventures ka punuar me shpejtësi maksimale me operatorët lokalë dhe partnerë (Kosovë, Shqipëri, Maqedoni) për të sjellë në treg modelin m-payment (m-commerce) ne rajonin tonë – duke krijuar kështu një treg mbarëkombëtar.

“Duke u bazuar ne faktet se në Evropë mesatarja e një personi që shpenzon për vit në pagesat me celular sillet rreth 30-50 euro, në rajonin tonë me një mesatare prej 10 euro shpenzim për person gjatë një viti, pritet një qarkullim nga sistemet e pagesave në internet prej 15-20 milion euro për vit në 10 vitet e ardhshme”, theksoi kryeshefi ekzekutiv i kompanisë Fast Europe Ventures, Kushtrim Xhakli.

Modeli m-payment është model i përshtatshëm për monetizimin e mediumeve tjera digjitaleve si TV, radio dhe web. Portali Telegrafi.com është portali më i vizituar tek shqipfolësit si dhe partneri i parë implemetues i m-payments.

Drejtori menaxhues i portalit Telegrafi.com, Gani Lajqi me këtë rast theksoi: “Ne sot po hymë në një fushë të re garuese me tregun global në ofrim të shpejtë të informatës, shërbimit dhe qasjes. Telegrafi vitet e fundit ka dëshmuar se është portali me inovativ në tregun shqipfolës, ku posedojmë rreth 80% të tij. Bashkëpunimi me Fast Europe Ventures na shpie drejt një partneriteti të frytshëm që kemi ndërtuar në muajt e kaluar”.

Vendi ku mund të vendoset shpallja juaj në mënyrën më të shpejtë është, http://www.telegrafi.com/shpallje – respektivisht butoni Shpallje.

Fast Europe Ventures mbulon rreth 2.8 milion konsumatorë të telefonisë mobile në rajonin tonë.

LIFT Conference 2009

Kushtrim Xhakli — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:37:37 +0000

Where has the future gone? This is what Lift09 explored during three sunny days on February 2009 in Geneva. Many things have changed in the past decades, even if we don’t ride flying cars nor have smart fridges ordering our carrots. Ask yourself this: are you sure you want your neighbor – the one who tends to make a long stop at the pub after work – to drive a vehicle with wings? We’re not sure either.

We all have different futures, and in William Gibson’s famous words, “future is not evenly distributed”. It is up to us to built it, and we certainly had with us some of the people who have a shot at influencing it with brilliant ideas. See the Lift09 talks and for more check the blogs, Flickr and Twitter.

During days of conference Sandbox (http://www.sandbox-network.com), a global network for extraordinary young talents together with LIFT Conference organised a dinner with the same topic bringing together extraordinary young achievers under age of 30 to network, exchange ideas and talk about some questions related to this years’ conference topic, “Where did the future go?”.

LIFT Conference is the highest reccomended conference in Europe, this year was amazing to see Vint Cerf, Google Evangelist talking about Interplanetary Internet (see video below)

Happy Birthday Republic of Kosovo

Kushtrim Xhakli — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:17:16 +0000

Republic of Kosovo today is one year old. Last year on 17th of February, representing the democratic will of majority of people in Kosovo, our country declared independence and became the newest state in the world to be recognized by most EU and NATO countries which makes 70% of world’s GDP.

In one year Republic of Kosovo made a good progress toward to commitments and challenges. The reality of Kosovo was accepted by all democratic societies in the world. Today Kosovo celebrates its own independence anniversary having established its own identity, investments, security force, passports and bilateral cooperation with states that recognized.

Celebration started all over Kosovo, people gathered to mark the first anniversary which will be followed with philharmonic concert and fireworks in the midnight. Join the celebration. Happy Independence Birthday Kosovo.

D-Telekom Unveils Macedonia Investment

Kushtrim Xhakli — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:40:55 +0000

Deutsche Telecom’s landline operator T-Home and mobile operator T-Mobile plan to invest about €160 million in Macedonia over the next three years, the companies said Thursday.

Both operators plan to invest €80 million each in improving the networks and introducing novelties that when complete will create new jobs in the country, said Nikolai Beckers, CEO of Macedonia Telecom, which is owned by the Germans.

Planed investments include fiber optic cable installation projects, network upgrades, creation of auxiliary networks, updates and investment in equipment, Beckers said, noting that work on some projects had already begun.

The company said there that numbers of landline telephony users are expected to decline in Macedonia, as it happens around the world. He noted that the company puts a lot of effort into improving its internet and IP TV offer where demand is rising.

T-Home and T mobile are the leading telecommunications firms on the Macedonian market. [Source: Balkan Insight]

Internet Penetration in Albania

Kushtrim Xhakli — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 00:10:29 +0000

Internet penetration rate in Albania grew to 18% during 2008, compared to 15% in 2007, but it is still too low while Internet connections remain quite expensive, Top Channel TV reported.

According to Nuredin Hasanaj, an expert interviewed by Top Channel, low penetration of fixed phone lines makes difficult internet expansion in the country.

“Prices for Internet access are higher here then in other Balkan countries”, Hasanaj explains. About 570,000 Albanians had an internet connection in 2008 in a population of roughly 3 million. (AE)

Telegrafi.com covers US president inauguration live

Kushtrim Xhakli — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:26:27 +0000

Telegrafi.com was the only internet portal in Kosovo to cover live the US president inaguration on its site. Telegrafi.com is independent portal in albanian language based in Prishtina, Kosovo founded in 2006.

Albania is on 62nd place for economic freedom, Macedonia ranked on 78th, Kosovo not included

Kushtrim Xhakli — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:30:31 +0000

Albania got 62nd place in the world ranking among 183 countries and 27th ranking in Europe’s economic freedom in the chart 2009 Index of Economic freedom. While Macedonia ranked 78th, 33rd from 43 countries in Europe. Serbia’s rank of 109 and 37th position in Europe is below the world average economic freedom. Kosovo was not included in the rankings.

Baltic countries are in top 50 with: Estonia 13th (6th in Europe), Lithuania 30th (17th in Europe), and Latvia 45th (23rd in Europe) above the regional and world averages.

Hong Kong continues to be the most economic freedom country in the world.

Full Report in here

Value Added Tax increased in Kosovo by 1%

Kushtrim Xhakli — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 20:28:14 +0000

The assembly of Republic of Kosovo has passed the amendment for the new Value Added Tax regulation. With the new law VAT gets increased from 15% into 16%. The regulation is in power from 1 January 2009, and affects all the registered businesses under new regulation. According to the Kosovo Tax Administration there will be new forms of VAT reporting which will be affected in Q1 (VAT declaration to be declared by 28th February 2009, for tax period of January 2009).

Assembly passed also law amendments, which reduces the personal income tax in Kosovo. A major change is for the employees which recieves more than 450 Euro now will be paying only 10% personal income tax (20% previously). Experts at the Tax Administration believes that the reduction of personal income tax will be an attraction to potential foreign investment in Kosovo.

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Best Practice Award 2008

Kushtrim Xhakli — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 01:25:26 +0000

During ECDL Foundation CEO Summit in Vienna which was held during 23-25 October 2008, a special award was granted to trajnimi.com national portal, which has adopted ECDL as a standard for ICT education and as a means to increase employability in Kosovo.
Award was given from Jim Friars, Chairman of ECDL Foundation to Kushtrim Xhakli representative of the portal which was launched in 2007 and had a major success on advancing the IT skills based education in Kosovo.

Speaking at ECDL Foundation CEO Summit Vienna, 23-25 October 2008