Tomislav Đorđević

I met Mr. Tom Đorđević in the winter of the year 1990. My friend and I had a small company that dealt with promotional activities and we were recommended a company named YUCO that was already successful in those days, that we might work for. We made an appointment very soon and one evening in the month of December we met at the headquarters of the YUCO company. In that company, everything was different from the things that we had seen so far. It was full of young people, positive energy could be felt, and the thing that was particularly interesting for us (at those times we were still kids) was that each employee had an own computer. That was the time when the computer was still a great wonder.

Then Mr. Đorđević appeared and at that moment he completely quashed for me the image of strict and inaccessible owners and company directors. He was a man much younger than we expected, very direct and a man of action, especially at that time when alongside the problems brought on by the start of transition, we were going through the breakup of the country we lived in. Actually, I was impressed by his constructive manner of thinking, the speed with which he thought and made decisions, which I remember even now, after 20 years of knowing each other and working together. I cannot compare him in that with anyone else I have ever met in my life. It is probably that ’’something’’ which makes us call someone a visionary. In effect, he was a young and very well-educated man at the time when successful private companies were mainly connected with ignorant but “resourceful” owners.

We started working together and completed the marketing assignment by the middle of 1991. Approximately, at that time I was offered to join the team of YUCO which was already making leaps. I started to work as a jurist, and very soon a big import of trucks from Russia started, the establishment of the YUCO BANK, the construction of production plants in Bački Jarak etc. And it went on like this for the next 16 years that I remember only by growth, development and successes which we achieved. I was lucky to be near Mr. Đorđević all this time as an associate. I was also lucky to work with him on new projects, to give my contribution and to be happy for each success that we achieved.

And the successes were plenty; they were the rule and not the exception.

From a small company that sold IT products, a modern company was created with the most advanced production plants in Bački Jarak.

From a bank which mostly offered serviced to YUCO companies, MERIDIAN BANK was created which comprised of over 100 branches and over 700 employees. This was a bank that owed its every success only to hard work, the personal effort of the employees and the use of the most modern working instruments which we were renowned for in the Serbian banking sector. The acknowledgement of this extraordinary work and all our successes was the fact that MERIDIAN BANK, as the most interesting in Serbia, was chosen to be bought by the biggest French bank.

The credit for this success and development above all goes to Tom, his knowledge, vision and intelligence. The rest of us were lucky to work with him, to acquire some part of his working habits, to adopt his manner of thinking and assessment and to be happy for the success that we have achieved alongside him. We were lucky that some of his competitive spirit rubbed off on all of us.

There so many other things I could say about Mr. Đorđević. Instead, I’ll just say that I believe in him and his visions as always.

Aleksandar Divljak, LLB
Novi Sad, May 26, 2011

Business Partners:

Ljubivoje Nikolić, Slobodan Pejović, “Tomić” printing, Mirjana Soro, Ferenc Kasa, Srboljub Đurić, Brane Pajić, Dušan Erdeljan, Živojin Janić, a group of enterpreneurs, Dušan Bokić, Slavko Gabrić, Geza Bleskanj, Veselin Šibul, Bogdan Rokvić, Branislav Rosić

Colleagues:

Jovan Cvetković, Dušan Tadić, Janez Škrubej, Slavoljub Pajkić, Stanka Radaković, Zlatica Nikačević, Đorđe Mitrović, Biljana Simić, Miladin Savić, Miroslav Fodora, Mirjana Srijemac, Dragutin Čop, Blažena Anđelić, Damjan Korda, Gordana Tešić, Dragan Stojanović, Dragan Radujko, Ivko Stojković, Igor Kizur, Željko Jakšić, Zdravko Josipović, Vladislav Hadžija, Robert Hep, Saša Krajnović, Radivoje Nikačević, Veselin Ristić, Branislav Radomirović, Aleksandar Divljak

Others:

Marijana Carić, group of classmates, Nikola Laćarac, Dragan Kosanović, Municipality of Mali Iđoš officials, Ivan Kopić, „Top 10 in Vojvodina“, Gordana Radosavac, Zoran Trajković