Rabushe, about 50, beams with pride when she shows us the greenhouses, in the nearest village to Lushnje.

“Together with my husband we started with greenhouses in our village – she says. But believe me, we thought it would be better for us and for our children to go to Greece. It was difficult to sell the vegetables in the town because there was no road and we did not a truck of our own. Our children were still young and life was not easy. We decided to emigrate to Greece, so we left everything we had here.

We worked in greenhouses in Greece for several years, but in our dreams we were back in our small house in Albania, planting our greenhouse, surrounded by friends and relatives. We missed our discussion evenings with our neighbors outside, under the trees, our laughs and children’s noise while playing in the green yard.

The children were growing and with the desire to keep the family together and with a rich experience and strong motivation we decided to come back and invest our savings here. Our savings were not enough to start a greenhouse of 3.5 dynym so we started to ask around where to get a loan. This is how we contacted Ina, the Credit Officer in Fondi Besa who was very helpful. We got the loan in due time and recently we got another loan of 1 million ALL. Last winter frightened us. It was forecasted snow, so we had to act immediately, covering the greenhouse with a second layer of plastic to protect the plants.

We asked for the loan and it was Fondi Besa that respond to our need immediately. The credit officer came to see our greenhouse and we finished the coverage before the freezing started.

I am very happy with the business. All the family works here, my husband, my sons and their wives and still we employ seasonal workers during the peak of production.

“Though it is a hard work, I still intend to employ more girls in my business – she says.”

Rabushe feels strongly about girls, because of her own struggles growing up with little money and hard work. She wants to be a role model to show girls what is possible when they persevere in education and work hard.

With her business success, Rabushe has seen a change in how she feels about herself, and her standing in her community.  She feels more confident now and more involved in the community.

Her advice to other women who want to be successful is to work hard and don’t have regrets.  “It’s you who make your life,” she says. “Success is in our hands.”