Every dress tells a story.
For fashion designer Shema Sahiti, those stories begin in her atelier in Prishtina, where sketches become handcrafted bridal gowns and evening dresses. Today, they often begin somewhere else too, on a phone screen, where a photograph or a short video introduces her work to women looking for the perfect dress.
That digital journey became much stronger through support from the EnInGeP project, which enabled Shema to invest in professional photography and video production that better showcase her collections and bring her brand closer to new customers.
The results came quickly.
Within the first 30 days, the new content generated 74,932 views across digital platforms and attracted 226 new followers. Nearly 74 percent of the new audience were women, reflecting the business’s core customer base, while the largest number of new followers came from the United States, Kosovo and North Macedonia. During the same period, 33 new pieces of content were published, and Instagram became the business’s main source of customer enquiries, demonstrating the growing role of digital channels in connecting the brand with new clients.
For many women-led businesses, digital channels/marketing also create new opportunities to reach customers beyond traditional networks and expand into international markets.
Yet the story behind the brand began long before digital marketing.
In 1998, Shema and her family sought refuge in Austria during the Kosovo war. They were welcomed by an Austrian family who offered them shelter and support. After the war ended in 1999, the family chose to return to Kosovo and rebuild their lives at home.
Back in Kosovo, Shema discovered her passion for fashion. While still attending school, she enrolled in tailoring courses, where she learned the craft that would later become her profession. What started as a personal interest gradually became a career.
In 2013, she opened her own atelier in Prishtina. One dress at a time, she built a loyal customer base by focusing on quality, personalised service and carefully crafted designs. Today, her creations are worn by women in Kosovo and abroad, with customers in markets including the United States, Canada, France, Austria and several African countries. The business employs five full-time staff members, four of whom are women, while additional seasonal workers join the team during busier periods.
As a woman entrepreneur building a business in a highly competitive market, Shema’s journey reflects the growing role of women-led enterprises in Kosovo’s creative economy.
The business is now able to provide short-term employment opportunities for women in the fashion and creative sectors, while seasonal hiring creates additional income opportunities during peak production periods.
As the business grew, so did the ambition to reach more customers beyond those who already knew the brand through personal recommendations. Shema realised that the quality of her dresses needed to be matched by the quality of how they were presented online.
Through the EnInGeP project, the business produced professional photographs for its bridal and evening dress collections, together with promotional videos created specifically for digital platforms. The new visual content allowed every collection to be presented in a way that reflects the craftsmanship behind each design while helping more people discover the brand online.
“The support helped us present our collections in a much more professional way. Today, many new customers first discover our work through social media, making our digital presence an important part of how we grow our business.”
Looking ahead, Shema plans to continue developing new collections while expanding into additional international markets. For her, investing in professional visual communication is not simply about promoting dresses. It is about making sure the quality of her work reaches customers wherever they are.
Shema Sahiti’s experience shows how digital transformation can help women-led businesses grow, create jobs and connect local creativity with international markets.
Today, every collection still begins inside Shema’s atelier, where ideas are transformed into elegant designs. The difference is that many of those designs now begin a second journey online, reaching customers long before they walk through the atelier’s doors. With support from the EnInGeP project, that digital window has become one of the business’s strongest tools for continued growth.
The Digital Empowerment Initiative (DEI) is co-financed by the Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship, Trade and Innovation (MIETI) through KIESA, in collaboration with the EnInGeP project. EnInGeP is financed by the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) and is jointly implemented by CARE International and ECIKS.
