INTERVIEW WITHDorijan Rajković,
the managing director Baumit International
You have 15 varied years with Baumit International behind you – what exactly was that like?
I joined the company in 2008 as Managing Director of ITV, a company in Croatia that belongs to Baumit Beteiligungen. At that time, we produced lime and dry mortar products. After several years of major crisis in the construction sector, we had to stop producing lime and restructure the company. In 2017, we merged with Baumit (Wietersdorfer Group), and in 2018 I took over responsibility as CEO for Baumit Croatia.
The biggest challenge of the merger was to retain customers, market share and employees. We achieved this with great effort.
So the last 15 years have been very dynamic and exciting.
In February, you became the Managing Director of Baumit International. What fascinated you about this task?
Baumit is a great and strong brand. We must establish and maintain Baumit as a premium brand with the highest recognition value and the greatest reputation in our industry throughout Europe. To achieve this, we need to focus on the markets and our customers. We must never tire of thinking about how we can provide excellent service and an outstanding customer experience. Secondly, given the uncertainty about the future, the big challenge is to build a resilient organisation. Working with colleagues from different countries, sharing knowledge and experience will be very exciting. Together we can achieve great things. All of the things I mentioned are a driving force for me.
Baumit has had an unprecedented success story in recent years – what do you think has triggered and characterised this success?
People, people and more people. Great leadership at all levels, the commitment and contribution of all employees have made such an outstanding result possible in recent years. These results are also a commitment to our future plans. By working together and understanding market and customer needs, we will successfully implement the Strategy 2030 that we have recently developed.
Baumit wants to position itself as a refurbishment expert in 2024 and become a topic leader – what can you contribute to this and how will you drive this goal forward?
In Croatia, I was the initiator of the ETICS Association in 2010 and its president for many years. Through the association, we raised awareness of the benefits of thermal refurbishment among the public, authorities and experts. We established contacts with faculties and experts from abroad who helped us to spread the message. Fortunately, there are many benefits of thermal refurbishment that can be communicated. In addition, the EU regulation urges countries to take concrete measures in this direction.