Serbia as a Regional Hub and the Company’s Vision for the Future
Armodios Yannidis
CEO of Vitex S.A.
In this interview, Armodios Yannidis, CEO of Vitex S.A., reflects on the company’s 25-year journey in Serbia, its transformation into a regional hub, and why innovation and trust remain at the heart of Vitex’s strategy.
Vitex is celebrating 25 years in Serbia, which is a remarkable milestone. How do you look back at this journey and what does this anniversary mean to you?
For our entire team, the 25th anniversary in Serbia is not only a business milestone but also a deeply emotional one. The beginning of Vitex’s journey was also a personal beginning for one of our colleagues, Mr. Prodromos Eftychidis, General Manager of Vitex-Hermes Doo.
When Vitex opened its Serbian subsidiary back in 2001, we recognized Serbia as a country full of opportunities, but even more importantly, as a place with dedicated professionals and a community that values quality. Over the past two and a half decades, Vitex has become a trusted name across Serbia and the wider Balkans.
What makes me most proud is the trust we have earned—not only from our clients and partners, but also from employees and families who see Vitex as part of their daily lives.
Another important milestone came in 2025, when Vitex launched its own production of dry mortars for construction. This expansion broadens our field of activity and allows us to support the building sector in an even more comprehensive and holistic way.
We take toxics out of products and out of human relations
Serbia has become an important regional hub for Vitex, and you just opened a new logistics center in Stara Pazova. Could you tell us more about this strategic development?
Serbia has an important role in our international strategy because of its geographic position, skilled workforce, and solid logistics infrastructure. From here, Vitex not only supplies the Serbian market but also coordinates exports to Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. This makes Serbia a true regional hub, and we are committed to strengthening that role even further. With the modern storage and distribution facilities, we will be able to deliver faster, manage inventory more effectively, and support future growth in the entire region. For our partners, this means improved service and reliability.
For us, it is also a message that Vitex is here to stay: we are investing not just in products but in infrastructure, people, and long-term partnerships. I see the logistics center as both a practical tool for efficiency and a symbol of our deep commitment to Serbia as a base for regional excellence.
Vitex is a company with a long tradition – founded in 1932 in Greece – yet it is also recognized for innovation and modernity. How do you manage to balance these two dimensions?
This balance is essential to our success. Tradition provides us with values such as integrity, trust, and responsibility—principles that reassure stakeholders and encourage them to co-create with us, while also helping them grow their own businesses alongside Vitex. This trust, combined with our deep understanding of market dynamics and the fact that talented professionals choose Vitex as their employer, forms the foundation of our unique business model, F2F – Family-to-Family.
This model is currently being studied by Harvard and Cranfield University for its distinctive approach to value creation. It goes beyond analyzing family businesses internally, by focusing on the values that enable collaboration between family-owned suppliers and customers, and exploring how such partnerships can generate greater value for the final consumer.
At the same time, modernity enables us to innovate, anticipate change, and deliver solutions that address the needs of both today’s and tomorrow’s customers..
Vitex has received many recognitions for its achievements. How important are these recognitions for you, and what is your vision for the future in Serbia?
Awards are never our final goal, but they do matter. What we value even more are the academic publications authored by our scientists, our ESG initiatives and reports, as well as our HR best practices that are independently monitored in all countries where we operate by KPMG.
Our deep commitment to sustainability and to people is so deeply embedded in our culture that we have adopted the motto: ‘We take toxics out of products and out of human relations.’ This reflects that we are not only producing paints and construction chemicals, but also cultivating an environment of trust, responsibility, and excellence.
Looking specifically at Serbia, our vision is to continue growing as a reliable partner and a responsible employer, while actively exploring more dynamic expansion through acquisitions of relevant local producers. With our new logistics center, our regional role will become even stronger.