With EU backing through the “Challenge Fund EU4I” program, Ekofungi has set up a BioLab where mushrooms are grown using agricultural waste such as straw, olive branches and residues from olive oil factories.

The initiative is designed to cut pollution by reducing waste, create jobs and provide training for young people to build green businesses, and offer a sustainable model that has drawn interest from hotels, restaurants and cafés.

“This innovation delivers a triple impact: Environmental – reduces agricultural waste that often ends up polluting nature. Social – creates jobs and offers training for young people, empowering them to build their own green businesses.  Economic – a sustainable, cost-efficient model that has already sparked strong interest from the HoReCa sector,” the EU Delegation said in a social media post.

Ekofungi is one of several startups the EU is supporting in Albania.

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Rama conducted today an online conversation with Start Up businesses and new ventures benefiting from business support schemes and innovation.

Rama said that the developments of recent years have shown the role of innovative Start Up enterprises and new enterprises initiated.

The prime minister stressed that, “We have continuously strived to create a suitable ecosystem for promoting Start Up and we have taken some important but insufficient steps to help your initiatives and those of others like you, by focusing on innovation and information technology”, said Rama.

The prime minister stressed that, “For some time now we have in force a stimulus measure of 5% on profit tax for IT operators and on the other hand we strongly believe that by removing the profit tax for small businesses we have provided significant assistance to all small businesses”.

Meanwhile, Rama said that, “For this sub-sector we have created an even better climate in order to promote enterprises of your kind”.

Also, the Prime Minister stressed that, “Electronic signature with security tools is another step that has had a positive impact on the provision of online services.”

“We believe that we have made a colossal transformation compared to where we started, giving individuals the opportunity to benefit from services without financial costs and on time and above all without corruption,” said Rama. /j.p/p.s./