Ekrem Bardha (born 13 May 1933) is an

Albanian American Albanian Americans () are Americans of full or partial Albanian ancestry and heritage in the United States. They trace their ancestry to the territories with a large Albanian population in the Balkans and southern Europe, including Albania, Ital ...

businessman, co-founder of the National Albanian American Council (NAAC), and former owner of Illyria Newspaper. He is currently serving as Albania's

Honorary Consul A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

and is regarded as one of the most successful Albanians in America.

Early life

Bardha was born in the southern village of Radanj in

Kolonjë District Kolonjë is a municipality in Korçë County, southeastern Albania. It was created in 2015 by the merger of the former municipalities Barmash, Çlirim, Ersekë, Leskovik, Mollas, Novoselë, Qendër Ersekë and Qendër Leskovik. The seat of th ...

, Albania. Having escaped from the strict Albanian communist regime in 1953, after one of his brothers was jailed for political reasons, he settled in the Detroit area and went into the restaurant business. He eventually became the owner of 18

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

fast-food franchises, which grossed over $25 million a year. He is the author of 2 books: Far Yet Near Albania, and The Albanian-American Diaspora and the Independence of Kosova, 2023.

References

5. https://exit.al/en/2022/04/01/to-this-british-albanian-success-story-hats-off-to-you-all/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Bardha, Ekrem 1933 births Living people Albanian emigrants to the United States Albanian businesspeople People from Kolonjë