Some industry insiders say there are signs of a shift from ‘brain drain’ to ‘brain circulation’ when it comes to Kosovo’s information, communication and technology talent, but the lure of better pay and career prospects abroad is still very strong.
Xhorxhina Bami
Drilon Jaha went to Duke University in North Carolina, where he studied Decentralised Finance, or DeFi, a system of financial instruments and services built on public blockchains instead of traditional banks.
In 2023, having returned to his native Kosovo, 38-year-old Jaha founded XponentL Data, providing data and AI solutions.
In June last year, XponentL Data was acquired by New York-based professional services and IT firm Genpact. Jaha’s 250 employees stayed put.
“This is not brain drain,” he said. “This is classic ‘brain flow’. We kept the people in Kosovo, securing their jobs here.”
“The main reason we were acquired was the very good sales opportunities in the US and very good delivery in Kosovo by these 250 persons, 90 per cent of whom are AI engineers and data scientists,” Jaha told BIRN.
The acquisition was big news for Kosovo’s information, communication and technology, ICT, sector, which has registered rapid growth over the past decade as firms inside Europe’s youngest state provide services for people or firms outside it.
But while the ICT sector is a promising source of economic growth, many young IT aficionados are still choosing to take their skills abroad, as BIRN reported in 2021.
