Late at night on January 19, against snowy mountains, the Kosovo flag was raised next to the Swiss flag in Davos in preparation for the World Economic Forum, WEF, which kicks off on January 20 in a luxurious ski resort.

From January 20 to 24, while the Davos conference brings together key world economic players and government representatives, Kosovo is opening up a 2000 square meter  “House of Kosovo” venue largely thanks to two successful property developers, Esat Lika from Carrabreg village in Kosovo and Ertion Axha from Durres in Albania. These two Albanians deal in property development and have managed to acquire the 100-year-old 11,500 square meter former sanatorium situated 800 meters from the WEF Congress Hall, aiming to turn it into a luxury resort.

“To put this space into context, only about 25 countries in the world have managed to have their own ‘House’ in WEF and the majority do not have this amount of space. We have been working hard for the last 10 days renovating the approximately 2,000 square meter ‘House of Kosovo’ to show our country in the best light possible when key companies of the world visit the Forum,” Axha, board member of Neue House AG said. 

The Queen Alexandra Sanatorium, which today sees Kosovo and Swiss flags standing next to each other, served as an inspiration for Thomas Mann’s “The Magic Mountain” novel published in 1924. A century later, it is attracting people’s imagination again after, on January 9 this year, the Swiss public TV aired a 5 minute story on the new 150 million euro investment that Neue House will put into this building and its surroundings.  But hardly anybody knows yet that this former hospital is going to represent “The House of Kosovo” during the Davos conference, all because the developers that bought the place are from Kosovo and Albania.

Having moved the medical equipment away, one wing of this building now has walls decorated with paintings and photographs from Kosovo artists. The space will host a series of discussions which include speakers such as Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, Minister of Economy Artane Rizvanolli, and various economic experts. 

It is not the first time Kosovo officials have attended this forum, but it is the first time Kosovo has a space of its own.

Axha and Lika met while studying at the American University in Bulgaria and together managed to grow a business with 350 workers, developing properties all over Switzerland including five-star hotels and residential buildings.

Lika was a one-man band when he opened a scaffolding business in 2012 after completing a master’s degree in International Marketing in the UK. In 2014 he had a serious accident after falling from scaffolding and the near-death experience gave him a rare drive to quit scaffolding and open a real estate company that found a niche in the market by buying property in rough areas where developers in Switzerland would rarely see an interest. Axha, on the other hand, completed a master’s in Electronic Engineering at the University of East London.

Lika’s father was a wood trader in Deçan, west Kosovo. Axha’s father was an engineer working in Albanian railways. Coming from families of craftsmen Lika and Axha saw opportunities when others saw only risk. Their German was non-existent when they came to Switzerland but that did not stop them from establishing a business based near Zurich which now develops real estate projects in 15 Swiss cantons.

Axha outlines that, concurrently with developing the former Sanatorium into a 5-star hotel and building new luxury residences in its vicinity, they plan to give their two home countries, Kosovo and Albania, a permanent home in this property, so that these countries would always be able to represent their economic projects as well as their culture during WEF.

“Kosovo and Albania have an incredible diaspora here (in Switzerland). Both governments must learn how to use this diaspora to raise the profile of Kosovo and Albania’s economy in the region and globally—we did this project to show that our countries can be on a par with the most serious players in this forum,” Axha said.

He highlights that their company can give this help to Kosovo because Switzerland has been incredibly hospitable to them.

“The Swiss system has made us who we are today and we are well integrated here, we are proud to have made this place our second home. But then, if one can, we must do something for our home country, not only expect the country to do things for us,” he added.

Lika and Axha believe that outsiders, especially immigrants, can rarely penetrate the old money structures of wealthy places like Davos.

“This is why having penetrated this property market, which rarely happens for people outside this canton, let alone immigrants, we must use this opportunity to share our clout with our first home countries,” added Axha.

The content that will be presented in this space is the responsibility of the Kosovo government. According to the document that can be found on the “House of Kosovo” Davos website, the government will be urging foreign investors to look at “seven strategic sectors…with strong competitive advantages,” such as textile, clothing and fashion, ICT, agriculture, mining, and renewable energy.

The Kosovo House is open until January 24, when the WEF conference ends.