The Ribbon of Empowerment

The delicious chocolates of the renowned brand like Lindt and JD Gross that can be found around the world, carry with them not only good taste, but a success story of a small company established in a small hill village in Kosovo called Reshtan, and stories of social and economic empowerment of many women mostly from rural areas of Kosovo whose lives were changed by many of them having a job outside of their house and getting a salary for the first time. The small textile company behind this success was established, to produce tablecloths for the local market. The company came as a result of the dedication of a visionary woman entrepreneur named Mimoza Kuqi, a teacher whose desire to create employment opportunities for women in rural areas led her to embark on this journey. Dimali Tex started as a humble company, with just two seamstresses who were producing the tablecloths. However, Mimoza constantly sought new opportunities for expansion, which led to her contacting a prestigious German company, supplying ribbons to renowned chocolate brands like Lindt and JD Gross who sought a reliable workforce to produce ribbons. Mimoza seized this opportunity and shifted Dimali Tex’s focus to producing decorative ribbons for the international market.

As demand surged, the company’s processing capacities became a bottleneck. To meet the ever-increasing demands, Dimali Tex needed to invest in more advanced machinery and expand its processing centers. The FEGO project recognized Dimali Tex’s potential and entered into a partnership with the company, to co-finance their expansion. Through the partnership, dozens of unemployed women from rural Kosovo would be brought into the active labor force of the apparel sector, many of them working outside of the house for the first time. With this support, the company set its sights on reaching processing capacities of 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 ribbons per week, in competition with major players like Poland, Sri Lanka, and Bulgaria. As a result, new processing centers were established in many rural areas around Kosovo, providing opportunities for employment and economic growth for unemployed women. Today, more than 50 Kosovo women continue to weave ribbons that have found their way to the far corners of the world, decorating delightful chocolate treats.