Exciting country, tense country

Belgrade awakens. In the Splavovi, the floating nightclubs on the banks of the Sava, the parties are over. The morning sun bathes the city in soft light, in which historic and new buildings are irreconcilably opposed to each other. On the one hand, there is the old town with Art Nouveau and Wilhelminian buildings – some neatly refurbished, others, away from the magnificent Knez Mihailova ulica shopping street, renovation cases. Kalemegdan Park with Belgrade's historic fortress nestles hill-like from the mouth of the Sava into the Danube up to the old town. Hram Svetog Save, one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world, dominates the silhouette with its monumental dome. Colorful street art screams from the brutalist concrete silos of the urban-creative cultural center Silosi in the former granary of the port. The glazed functional building facades from the socialist era of Yugoslavia, on the other hand, are visibly fading. Completely contrary to this rises Beograd na Vodi or Belgrade Waterfront, a test-tube district – futuristic, monstrous. For the billion-dollar prestige project of the Serbian government and an investor from the United Arab Emirates, all applicable building regulations have been suspended. Kula Beograd – completed in 2024, 168 meters high, 42 floors, 190 hotel rooms and 220 luxury apartments – is to be the landmark of the new Belgrade. And Waterfront is to become the largest shopping mall in the Balkans. But Waterfront is also a symbol of Serbia's inner turmoil: supporters hope for an attractive cityscape and economic prosperity. Opponents denounce corruption on a large scale.

On the seventh floor of a hotel on the edge of Belgrade's old town, Grujo Ristić (58) looks over to the Waterfront district, about 1000 meters away as the crow flies. There is no business to be done there for him and his customers, because the Waterfront windows are made of aluminum. Ristić is the managing director of GEALAN RS d.o.o. and is indirectly involved with the megaproject – or with the impact it has on the Serbian construction industry: "Apartments in Belgrade Waterfront cost 7000 euros per square metre. The price spiral is spiraling upwards and with it the land and real estate prices throughout Belgrade and the whole country.

Grujo Ristić was born in 1967 in Breza, a small Bosnian town 25 kilometers northwest of Sarajevo. After secondary school, he trained as an electrical engineer. He worked in the military industry, then in the coal mine in his hometown. He has no plans to leave Breza, but when he is 25, the Bosnian war breaks out. "From one moment to the next, my life and that of my family were turned upside down." After four years of war, Ristić moved to Serbia. "In a new environment, I had to look for a job and learn a lot first. It was a difficult phase in my life." From 1996 to 2009, he was sales and production manager in a company that manufactures PVC and aluminium windows. In 2009, Grujo Ristić moved to GEALAN. In the sales force of the Croatian subsidiary, he acquires and advises customers in Serbia. "We cooperated with a dealer in Belgrade who also took care of the logistics. Over time, however, it turned out that this was not a good constellation." In 2022, GEALAN will take its Serbia business into its own hands. The system provider buys the company of its sales partner and changes its name to GEALAN Republika Srbija d.o.o., with Ristić as director. "After the takeover, we were independent, were able to control processes ourselves and implement our ideas. We have set up a very well-organized warehouse and increased the storage area by 1200 square meters, another 1500 square meters will be added soon."

From the deserted wasteland to Belgrade's largest canvas: Grujo Ristić in front of the 28-metre-high silos of the Silosi cultural centre on the banks of the Danube. Behind and under the huge murals, in and around the silos, exhibitions, concerts, festivals, fairs, parties, sports and environmental events take place. Silosi defines itself as a symbol of modern Belgrade.

GEALAN sells three systems in Serbia: S 8000, S 9000 and GEALAN-LINEAR,® whose sales figures have developed particularly well since the market launch in 2021. In a price-driven window and door market, GEALAN successfully focuses on innovation and quality. "Purchasing power in Serbia is comparatively low and every third window comes cheaply from Turkey. People have become accustomed to cheap products, so to speak. We differentiate ourselves – for example with the GEALAN-SMOOVIO® sliding system or with lift-and-slide doors." And GEALAN RS has positioned itself as a specialist in coloured profiles. Before 2022, 95 percent of all GEALAN files delivered in Serbia were white. Now the proportion of profiles with decorative foil or in GEALAN-acrylcolor® is 30 percent. Favorites are anthracite gray, walnut and golden oak. Grujo Ristić attaches great importance not only to offering premium products, but also to being able to deliver them quickly. Profiles of all three systems are in stock in many colours. "The availability of upscale product lines is a real competitive advantage. In this respect, we are the best supplier of PVC profiles in Serbia."

Innovation, colour diversity and the strong warehouse have an enormous influence on growth, says Ristić. Since the RS subsidiary was founded, GEALAN has increased its turnover in Serbia by 50 per cent. "We are not satisfied with that yet. I see great potential. We are number 3 in our market and want to catch up with the two competitors who are still ahead of us. With healthy growth, we want to double our sales in the next five years. In 2025, we gained 23 new customers." Eleven employees – two in sales, one for technical customer service, two in the sales back office, four in the warehouse, the CFO and the CEO – now serve 130 Serbian customers.

GEALAN reoriented itself in Serbia in 2022 and embarked on a successful course. Grujo Ristić misses this clear orientation for the future of the country. "It is uncertain in which direction Serbia will develop politically. Is EU accession realistic? Does the government even want him? Of course, Serbia could benefit from the EU, but it would also have to comply with the rules of the Union." The EU is already promoting the energy-efficient renovation of buildings. "The payments from Brussels have flowed, but in Serbia the money for windows and doors has not yet reached where it is supposed to."

The word "station canopy" comes up in almost every news item about Serbia, and of course also in conversation with Grujo Ristić. It has become tragically famous: On November 1, 2024, sixteen people are killed after the collapse of the canopy of the train station in Novi Sad, Serbia's second-largest city. The disaster has triggered grief, anger and nationwide protests against the government and corruption. Like the gigantic Belgrade Waterfront, the protest is dividing opinion in Serbia. "We don't try to talk about politics with our customers," says Grujo Ristić. "Some of them support the government, others criticize it. As a subsidiary of a German parent company, we remain politically neutral."

Belgrade contrast: The view from the old town towards the Belgrade Waterfront reveals the contrast between historic buildings and new high-rise buildings that tower over them. The prestigious Waterfront district is to be built by 2045.