b'Who Runs the Bearings World? Girls.Meet Ljubex International: A 35-year legacy. Second-generation led. Official Schaeffler & ZVL distributor for Serbia. Trusted by industry. Powered by women.If you were starting your own company,When Tamara first started appearingcarries great responsibility and, some would you name it after yourself?in the industry and attending meetings,would say, pressure due to expectations. One Ljuba from Serbia had a clear,many assumed she would get boredRespecting what was built does not mean unequivocal answer to that question:and eventually give up. Instead, shepreserving it unchanged.absolutely yes. says she is having the best time of herBefore joining Ljubex, Tamara had an Ljubex International is a family-ownedprofessional life.honest conversation with Ljuba about company based in Belgrade, Serbia, thatAt the time she joined Ljubex, Tamaraexpectations. She told him:has, for more than 35 years ensuredhad no idea how relevant the topic of production plants run without downtime. second-generation leadership wouldI will come, but only if we are Ljubex began as a one-man show. In thesoon become, not only in Serbia, butgoing to change things.early (and rather turbulent) 90s, Ljuba,across the entire region. Much of Serbias the companys founder, decided to stepprivate, family-owned sector was foundedChange, in this case, meansinto entrepreneurship and start hisin the same period as Ljubex, meaningunderstanding and respecting existing own company. At the time, this was an the first major generational transition isvalues, experience, and knowledge, unusual (and brave!) move in Serbia. Thenow underway. while having the courage to take steps former Yugoslavia was on the brink ofJoining a family business andforward and do things differently. Over collapse, the economy was unstable, andtransitioning from the first to the secondthe past three years, Ljubex has been Ljuba had a small child at home (Tamara),generation is a great privilege, but it alsotransforming from a classic distributor with another on the way (Tamaras younger sister).Nevertheless, Ljuba chose a path thatThe Ljubex team with founder, Ljuben Stanevonly a few dared to take back then, and founded his own company, symbolically named Ljubex. The word International was added intentionally, reflecting his ambition to engage in foreign trade as well.Fast forward 35 years: primarily through the BearingNet platform, Ljubex has exported to almost every continent. Ljubex packages have travelled as far as Argentina, Poland, Germany, the United States, and even New Caledonia.Ljubex is also the first-ever distributor of Schaeffler in Serbia, celebrating 30 years of partnership this year. Coincidentally, this is also the year Tamara turns 39, the same age Ljuba was when he foundedthe company.Tamara is Ljubas daughter, and for many years, that is mostly how the market knew her. That changed a little over three years ago, when she decided to join the company after a career in theGovernment of the Republic of Serbia, retail, and e-commerce.Her arrival was almost accidental and, therefore, unexpected. A regional Marketing Director in a company backed by one of the worlds most significant investment funds leaves that position and the e-commerce industryto sell bearings!14'