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Alida, a young Bosnian lady from Prizren whose products have been fashioned for two years in Torino fashion weeks in Italy.
What started as a small business in 2018 in Prizren, turned out into something that would be seen by millions in Torino fashion week. Using her talent in creating unique bags and gifts, Alida started with her brand as Alida’s Patchwork in a small store in Prizren. She would produce and sell her unique products (bags, gifts and different clothes) made from recyclable materials only in Prizren.
“The bags that I have made with recyclable materials have been fashioned by models for two consecutive years in Torino Fashion Week”, says Alida.
Using her talent in creating unique products, Alida gained her fame in Prizren and gradually started being well known in other cities where people from all over Kosovo would visit her store in Prizren.
In 2020 the pandemic forced her to close her store and try to survive as an online business. With no experience or knowledge in online sales and digital marketing, Alida was about to close her business. As she was trying to create her audience in facebook, she came across the ad on the assistance being provided by Digital Empowerment Initiative (DEI). She applied and became a beneficiary of a grant on digital marketing.
DEI provided support in digital marketing to Alida’s Patchwork and supported her to promote her work online, with the special focus on social media channels. As part of the digital marketing support was also an extended marketing and sales training for Alida’s Patchwork.
“The Digital Marketing support provided by DEI has increased my sales but above all has been an eye-opener for me and my online behavior” says Alida.
In addition to increased sales and revenues with Alida’s Patchwork, Alida is now using the same knowledge gained by DEI support to attract new customers and create new sales channels for her new business of selling plastic crates imported from Turkey. Thanks to her knowledge gained, sales channels established Alida will hire 2 new employees for her new business which is being established.
DEI is a mechanism funded by KIESA, which supports the digital transformation of Kosovar businesses. The implementation of the DEI is supported by the ACCESS program, which is funded by the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC).