” Industry can create jobs! », such was the leitmotif of Antonio Molina, emblematic president and founder of the Mäder group, specialist in paints and composites for industry, former president of the Matikem competitiveness cluster (now Euramaterials), who has just left us suddenly at the end of 82 years old.
A discreet man with an atypical career, Antonio Molina, associated with his wife Corinne, made his family group a French and international leader.
Of Spanish origin, born on February 19, 1941, consultant in Africa and France, Antonio Molina, an engineer by training, embarked on the entrepreneurial adventure at the age of 52, by buying in 1993, a painting company in Pas- de-Calais, the SME Corsain in Maroeuil, 52 employees at the time.
700 employees, 8 factories
From acquisition to acquisition, first in France, then in Europe, China and India, the group has grown. With headquarters in Lille and then in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, the group took the name of Mäder in 2000, a company acquired in Switzerland.
In a quarter of a century, the group has multiplied its turnover by 20 (200 million euros), employs 700 people, has 8 factories, its products are sold in 70 countries, equip the cabins of the TGV, the thrusters of the Ariane rocket, etc.
Passionate about innovation, Antonio Molina was also president of the Matikem competitiveness cluster, a materials, green chemistry and innovation cluster, which became Euramaterials in 2019 after its merger with UP-tex, a cluster dedicated to textile innovation.
