Rootedness and diversity
Raúl Comesaña Macias heads the BBF Group, a family-run enterprise comprising medium-sized construction companies based in Adlershof
Popular short videos on social media often link business success with strict morning routines. Benjamin Franklin, the man on the hundred-dollar bill, was famous for keeping meticulous records of his daily schedule and extolling the virtues of rising early. Raúl Comesaña Macias, managing director of BBF Bau GmbH, agrees with the American founding father: “A fixed routine gives me the structure I need to handle my usually hectic day.” The CEO’s current tasks feature dealing with the ongoing growth crisis, which also affects the construction sector, recruiting talented young people, and integrating new companies into the group.
To meet these challenges, BBF is built on rootedness and diversity. This is not merely an economic strategy but a vision for society. “Over the next five years, 700,000 companies in Germany will be looking for someone to take over. Many will fail because motivated people are lacking.” BBF recently acquired JoMi GmbH, expanding its portfolio to include landscaping and gardening expertise. With such acquisitions, Comesaña is able to offer many services from a single source and reduce dependencies. But his personal convictions are almost as important: “The economy in the region needs entrepreneurs who are rooted here, who pay business tax here, and it needs skilled young people.”
The BBF Group was founded by Comesaña’s father, Jesús, whose parents came to this country to escape the Franco dictatorship and build a new life—the archetypal biography of a guest worker in Germany. The grandfather found employment at Dunlop in Hanau, and his son went on to study and became a successful investment banker. Raúl Comesaña, who studied psychology and management, has now taken over the operational leadership of the company.
The BBF Group relocated its headquarters to the Adlershof Technology Park in the early 2010s. “People often underestimate Adlershof—not only is it a leading research hub, it’s also conveniently located,” says Comesaña. Moreover, the campus offers access to young talent and the booming region in and around south-east Berlin. There, BBF is currently involved in developing the Zeuthener Winkel Mitte project, which includes residential buildings and a two-stream primary school.
Although Comesaña grew up in Adlershof and can speak fluent Berlin dialect when needed, his black hair and Spanish name are often a topic of conversation. “I sometimes respond by saying that Raúl actually comes from Radolf, old Germanic for ‘wise wolf’—a reminder that migration has shaped Europe for centuries.” Not necessarily sentences you’d expect to hear from a building contractor. But immigration remains a key topic, not just but especially in the construction sector: “The shortage of skilled labour in this country is a major challenge. When talented people start leaving this country as well, we have a real problem.” Diversification and immigration were part of the solution, but a culture that rewards achievement was equally important, he says. “Whether from Germany or Albania, I don’t know a single bricklayer who isn’t proud of their craft. But these achievements must also be recognised by society. Only then will people strive for excellence.”
Simon Wolff for Adlershof Journal