Building a Performance-Driven Agency
There is a difference between having an investment strategy and having an institution that can deliver it.
In 2023, the prime minister of Albania asked TBI to support the redesign of the Albanian Investment Development Agency (AIDA), the country’s central body responsible for attracting foreign investment, promoting exports and supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This was particularly significant given that foreign investments determine growth, and SMEs account for approximately 92 per cent of private-sector employment in Albania. Redesigning AIDA meant rebuilding the country’s investment engine and strengthening the institutional backbone supporting the businesses on which most Albanian jobs depend.
This was not a technical exercise. It sat at the heart of the government’s national strategy for development and European integration. Albania was generating investment interest at the highest political levels. What it needed was an institution capable of converting that momentum into results.
AIDA had a strong mandate and new, committed leadership. Yet the structures underpinning delivery were not fully aligned with the scale of ambition. Processes were not consistently end-to-end. Responsibilities were not always clearly sequenced around the investor journey. In a region where countries compete directly for the same capital, that gap matters.
Across the Western Balkans, investors compare jurisdictions based on responsiveness, coordination and predictability. Incentives may look similar on paper. Institutional reliability is the differentiator.
We worked alongside the Albanian government and the agency’s new executive director to redesign AIDA’s operating model, governance structure and performance framework, aligning the agency’s structure and incentives with the prime minister’s economic-transformation agenda.
The starting point was clarity. We conducted a full assessment of how the agency operated in practice and benchmarked it against regional and international peers. Ten core business processes were redesigned, from investor onboarding and aftercare to SME support and export promotion. A performance framework aligned agency priorities with wider government objectives. Success became defined by measurable outcomes rather than activity. For the first time, targets cascaded from agency level down to individual teams. In doing this, AIDA became Albania’s first performance-driven government agency.
This was not administrative housekeeping. It changed incentives.
Success became defined by measurable outcomes: investment-led conversion, response times, coordination across institutions, investor onboarding and effective aftercare, and SME support delivered. Accountability became clearer. Delivery became systematic rather than discretionary.
For those of us working alongside the agency, the most meaningful shift was not a single announcement, but the moment delivery became predictable. The institution began operating with greater confidence in its own capability.
Three shifts illustrate what that meant in practice:
1. Making responsiveness a competitive edge
Investors remember how quickly you respond and how reliably you coordinate. In Albania’s case, information requests are now answered within 48 hours and licensing support is coordinated within ten working days. That predictability signals seriousness.
For SMEs and investors, the change was not abstract. It meant knowing who owned their case, receiving answers within days rather than weeks and dealing with a state that acted as one system rather than many disconnected offices.
2. Fixing the operating model before launching new initiatives
When agencies feel pressure, the instinct is to add programmes. Albania began instead with fundamentals: clarifying processes, sequencing responsibilities and formalising cross-ministerial collaboration so investor requests no longer stalled between departments.
3. Closing the gap between leadership diplomacy and institutional execution
Senior leaders can generate investment interest through diplomacy and direct engagement. But interest must be absorbed by institutions.
By introducing systems to track diplomatic leads and assign ownership, AIDA ensured that political outreach translated into follow-through. Investment diplomacy became measurable.
Without a clear handover from leader-level engagement to agency-level execution, ambition dissipates.
Turning Economic Ambition Into Institutional Capability
The results are incremental but already tangible. Trade missions have expanded. AIDA played a central role in organising the first EU–Western Balkans Investment Forum. The agency also helped facilitate investment agreements between EU and WB firms expected to lead to as much as €4 billion in projects, while tripling the number of trade missions and bilateral investment-framework agreements. In 2025 alone, AIDA was instrumental in attracting €200 million more in new foreign investment year-on-year.
For the Albanian government, this was about more than just improving one agency. It was about strengthening the machinery of growth.
At its core, the reform ensured that economic ambition did not depend solely on high-level engagement or policy announcements. It built an institution capable of converting investment interest into agreements, supporting SMEs at scale and coordinating across government with clarity and speed. In doing so, it strengthened the state’s credibility with businesses and investors and reinforced the foundations on which long-term growth depends.
Institution-building rarely attracts headlines. Yet in competitive regions and constrained fiscal environments, it may be one of the most important growth policies a government can undertake.
This was originally posted to Institute Insights, where TBI experts bring to life our work enabling political leaders to drive change that transforms lives.