Knowledge and quality workforce attract more and more foreign investors to Serbia

The first retail conference in Belgrade has been held under the name “The Day of Retail Professionals”, organized by BIG Shopping Centers Serbia, on the occasion of the most successful year in the company's decade-long operations. The conference gathered over 70 representatives of the leading retail chains, who shared their experiences in this field, but also pointed to the tendencies of advancing in the sector of innovations and the development of retail. The event was opened by Nenad Popovic, the minister for innovations and technological development.

– BIG Shopping Center has long-term plans in this country and we are here to stay, grow and provide support, not just through investments, but through the great knowledge we have as a company in the field of retail worldwide – Robert Yahav, the CEO of BIG CEE Serbia, pointed out and reminded that, in 2019 alone, the company had bought four pieces of real estate, whereby it increased its retail space in Serbia to 130,000 m2.

– BIG centers can currently be found in four cities in Serbia – Belgrade, Novi Sad, Pancevo and Indjija. In the upcoming years, the network of BIG centers will be expanded to other cities as well, whereby we will achieve our mission – having the BIG brand become synonymous with shopping destinations – Yahav said.

Presenting the results of BIG's operations in Serbia, Yahav said that the Serbian market was one of the most interesting markets for investments and that he considered Serbia the regional center and a good base which covers the whole Balkans.

– Serbia has recently been pronounced the country with the most foreign investments per capita in this part of Europe, and one of the main reasons why investors come to Serbia is the knowledge of local engineers and the good workforce. New technologies substantially change all industries, especially commerce. Innovations and new technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data bring a new approach to trade, changing this field from the ground up – said the minister for innovations and technological development of Serbia, Nenad Popovic.

Representatives of BIG pointed out that 1,100 residential units and more than 2,000 parking spaces were being built within the BIG FASHION PARK complex, located right next to the BIG Fashion shopping center in Visnjicka Street. Furthermore, a business center, which the American company NCR will use as its main campus in Serbia, is also being built.

– This year, we stepped out from the field of shopping centers into residential and office space, and other real estate categories are to follow. As for retail, we want to achieve dramatic growth everywhere in Serbia – Yahav said.

Yahav pointed out that the company's priority was its offer, which needs to be varied and adapted to what the consumers want, and announced the arrival of the Decathlon brand, which will open its first store in Serbia, within BIG Fashion, on December 12.

Support to marginalized young people

– Corporate responsibility is in BIG's focus and we are constantly developing and upgrading it. We have directed our activities to marginalized young people, who will find it difficult to overcome the challenges they face without the support of the community. We are cooperation on this with the Embassy of Israel and we will continue even further in 2020, aiming to help the local community, which is an excellent partner for us – Robert Yahav said.

Cee Group d.o.o. Beograd

NCR d.o.o. Beograd

Ambasada Izraela Beograd

Ministarstvo nauke, tehnološkog razvoja i inovacija Republike Srbije

CEE-BIG Management Beograd

BIG Shoping Centers Serbia

BIG FASHION PARK

BIG Fashion shopping center

Decathlon

Day of Retail Professionals conference

Robert Yahav

Nenad Popović

shopping centers in Serbia

retail industry in Serbia

retail