Audun-le-Roman. He started his boilermaking business in a former workshop in the town.

Malick Mbaye only founded his company Riomeca last October , and only started operating in January. However, his order book is nicely filled, and the business owner is already planning new hires. He owes this success in large part to his background and experience in boilermaking.

In 2009, he graduated from Enim with an engineering degree. He was then hired by Industeam , a Luxembourg-based company specializing in the manufacture of industrial machinery. It was there that he learned everything about the trade and gradually progressed in the boilermaking sector, eventually becoming an international project manager. "I managed teams of hundreds of people and supervised major projects in India and Slovenia. So I had already acquired the skills needed to get started." He had been thinking about starting his own company since 2021.

It was finally three years later that he left his job and opened his own business in an ideal location: a former boilermaking workshop. "I set up a workshop there and invested in machinery, which allows us to manufacture parts for our customers ourselves, without having to subcontract." Without these machines, it's difficult to be competitive. And to finance the launch of his business, he received help from the Entrepreneurial Hub, which granted him an honorary loan of €20,000.

Part of his business takes place on Rue Émile-Folliat in Audun. "For the rest, we work directly on construction sites, where we do maintenance." Malick Mbaye was able to immediately recruit staff, hiring two employees: a welder and a mechanic, and supplements his team with fixed-term contracts and temporary workers on an ad hoc basis, as needed. He also doesn't hesitate to take on apprentices. "The goal is to train them in what we do, before hiring them." And there should be hiring. After only eight months of existence, he already counts major corporations as clients.