Nehar Jashari returned from Germany, and received funding from StarLabs to launch his company.

Prishtina, March 2022 – How many times did you have to open a new webpage on your internet browser, and get a single word: “loading”? We don’t think there’s anything that makes us angrier when we browse websites than when we waste time on getting information, services, or buying any products on one of the websites that are designed to carry out these tasks for us. The 23-year-old from Prishtina, who works as a programmer at StarLabs, Nehari Jashari has been thinking about a solution to this problem. Fast websites, high performance, efficiency, problem-solving as well as greater business opportunities – this is what he offers with the product he is developing with StarLabs as part of his start-up – Metry.V.

“Once the page opens faster, the customer will be much pleased and there will be more chances to sell more, say, a service on that webpage or carry out e–commerce activities. The performance of a page has a greater impact on the psychological side of the customer and also affects the start-ups in a business,” explains the new programmer while telling us how he came up with the idea for this product, and then launched his start-up. 

Nehari has worked at StarLabs for two years now. He started cooperating with the company – ranked the second largest employer in the field of technology in Kosovo – when he was 21 and upon finishing his studies in the field of Information Technology.  Nehari had first worked as an instructor at a sister company, Digital School, and then as a programmer at StarLabs. His journey is characterized by a career advancement, which he says he would not have achieved if he did not find the support of StarLabs management. “Following my experience with Digital School, I went to Darsej [CTO at StarLabs] and Hana [CEO of StarLabs] and I told them I was ready to start as a programmer, and they offered me this opportunity right away,” Nehari said.

But his journey was not without challenges. Like many other young Kosovars, since 2021 Nehari had decided to travel to Germany where he had found an internship program for 6 months at a German company. According to the Kosovo Statistics Agency (ASK), the number of Kosovar migrants in 2020 was 8,724 – or 0.49% of the resident population. This figure includes all emigrants, regardless of the reason for migration and their status – legal or illegal. Family reunion, finding a place of work and permanent migration are cited as reasons for migration.

Nehari had not yet decided what he would do, whether to continue in Germany or return home, until Darsej Rizaj, CTO at StarLabs, offered him the opportunity he needed to return. Nehari speaks gratefully of the moment Darsej Rizaj had offered him the opportunity to return to the company, but also of the support to develop an idea that Nehari had. 

“I decided that if I go back to Kosovo I’ll go back with my own product, I’ll go back and develop something myself,” he says. “And at StarLabs I’ve carried out a lot of web performance tasks, I’ve been working with page speed, performance and other aspects that make things much easier and user-friendly for customers. That is how I created a product that offers these things, and StarLabs offered me funding for this idea,” he says. 

Nehari had introduced his idea twice through a Desk Pitch before the management of StarLabs, after returning from Germany. He had failed the first time. “I was younger and what StarLabs offered me was mentoring, ideas and comments on how to develop my idea with an effective and feasible business plan”, Nehari said. The second time he also introduced the name of his product, which was the result of blending two words “Metrics” and “Vitals”. “Metrics are solely used to measure the performance of a website and the name derives from that,” Nehari explains.

Nehari Jashari at his desk at StarLabs. Picture: Kushtrim Tërnava/Q&A Media for StarLabs

Today StarLabs – which funds the development of the product created by Nehari – offered him space, human resources and salary, to achieve career advancement as a young entrepreneur. This is the opportunity that StarLabs provides to every employee.

“Given the large number of employees we have, and their extraordinary talent, we have offered the opportunity that anyone – both as an individual or as groups of people within the Company – who has good ideas for developing their products and launching startu-ps, can pitch and get funding and mentoring, market placement and marketing from us,” says StarLabs director, Hana Qerimi. The role of the company remains as a partner while, according to them, young people in Kosovo are given the opportunity for entrepreneurship. “The entire staff of StarLabs has this opportunity,” Qerimi concludes. 

Such possibilities, according to Nehari, are not many in Kosovo. 

Hana Qerimi, CEO and CO-Founder of StarLabs. Picture: Kushtrim Tërnava/Q&A Media for StarLabs

“I have not heard of a tech company in Kosovo providing such opportunities. And to be honest, if I tried this outside StarLabs I would have to do everything on my own, and it’s hard to find investment, and you don’t get a salary – so everything on your own,” he says. He adds that he had never imagined himself as an entrepreneur at the age of 23, and in Kosovo without the support of StarLabs. 

“I think that if I were not at StarLabs, I would either be in Germany or looking to become a developer for a bigger salary. But the opportunities I’ve been offered by StarLabs have simply made me work harder for myself and for them. Here, we feel like home because they offered us this opportunity, and they look after us. They support us and believe in us. They appreciate what we do. I believe StarLabs gave me a lot”, says Nehari. He attributes his success to his two mentors, Kujtim Neziraj – Technical Director at StarLabs, and Darsej Rizaj – CTO and Co-Founder at the Company. 

“Darsej has been one of the biggest supporters, and was happy for the product the same way I was. I remember he told me that this enterprise thing is much tiring and people will not understand that you won’t be able to go out, and you’ll probably be stuck all day in front of the computer, because the stress is bigger, but it’s something that’s worth it, because it’s your product and you can achieve it,” he says. 

“StarLabs gave me back a lot”, he concludes. 

Metry.V will be released soon and is expected to be the product that will change the performance of your websites.