8 million euros and soon 15. This is the amount of aid released since last April by the regional council of Ile-de-France to subsidize companies which convert to the "Covid economy".
38 projects have already benefited from this boost called "PM'up Covid-19".
“This is exceptional aid intended to support the projects of companies in the Ile-de-France region which wish to engage in the fight against the virus, whether by manufacturing hydroalcoholic gel, masks, gowns, respirators, etc.
», Explains Alexandra Dublanche, vice-president in charge of economic development in the region and deputy mayor of Sartrouville (Yvelines).
The region will soon produce enough masks for its population
“This aid allows them to finance the adaptation or conversion of their production tool to make these essential materials.
»A subsidy capped at 800,000 euros, available until December 31.
“We have to secure strategic supplies,” continues Alexandra Dublanche.
And the job creation that goes with these new activities.
The president of the region, Valérie Pécresse (Libres!) Shows the will to “become independent again on this production.
We looked everywhere for masks and respirators at the start of the health crisis.
It was necessary to help reorient companies to meet demand.
Ile-de-France now produces 17 million masks per month.
This is still insufficient for a region of 12 million inhabitants.
But with the Japanese group Iris Ohyama, which will produce 30 million masks per month from October in Seine-et-Marne, we should achieve real autonomy.
"
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A million masks should indeed leave the Iris Ohyama factory daily in Lieusaint (Seine-et-Marne), indicates the human resources manager.
The Japanese leader in plastic storage has invested nearly 5 million euros in this new production and should eventually hire 25 people.
Le Masque Français, born in Meudon (Hauts-de-Seine), moved in August to larger premises in Vélizy (Yvelines).
LP / Simon Gourru
And this is not over.
Other business leaders like Emmanuel Nizard with Le Masque Français in Meudon (Hauts-de-Seine).
Its factory now employs 150 people, produces 400,000 masks per day and had to move to Vélizy (Yvelines).
“Masques de France”, production of which began in Bondy (Seine-Saint-Denis) on August 10, produces 100,000 surgical masks every day.
The company co-founded by Franck Boubli, 45, currently employs around 20 people.
But with the two new machines that he will receive in the coming weeks, this boss - who presents himself as a pure product from Seine-Saint-Denis - intends to recruit around forty employees and quickly produce 200,000 masks per day .
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"Like everyone else, I hallucinated to see that we did not have enough masks to protect the population and that we were obliged to charter special planes for China," said the business manager.
There is a real need at the local level that must be met.
Wearing a mask will not be a matter of a few months.
I have been traveling in Asia for twenty years.
There, it became a habit.
And I am sure that in France, it will end up being too.
"FFP2 masks, we will always need them", also assures Alexandra Dublanche.
The Bondy mask factory has been producing 100,000 surgical masks per day since August 10.
LP / Hélène Haus
It is also the conviction of Hsueh Sheng Wang, who has grown in Blanc-Mesnil (Seine-Saint-Denis) for 4 million euros, and in a few months, the "largest mask factory in France" with the contribution of 800,000 euros from the region.
“With the arrival of the new machines, 1 million masks will be produced every day,” explains the investor.
“This will represent 70% of French production,” he assures us.
To produce these surgical masks, Hsueh Sheng Wang brings the fabric from Germany and China, he recruited 15 employees and he plans 30 positions in the long term.
“As long as there is a need to continue we will produce, in my opinion at least for 3 years.
"
The Paris Chamber of Commerce has also helped to set up this Covid economy.
Via CCI Entraide, a platform created during the crisis, 54% of the projects presented concerned antivirus equipment, 46% for masks.
"On the other hand, it is too early to precisely measure the business model of these companies" recognizes the Chamber.
Its president, Didier Kling, also remains measured.
“This diversification shows that entrepreneurs know how to mobilize and be flexible,” he notes.
But over time, I don't think this market will remain buoyant if we make the same basic products as the others, at higher prices.
Unless there is real technical added value, I don't really believe in it.
"
Dazzling growth is also complicated to manage
“Be careful, rapid growth is also complicated to manage,” warns Simon Sow, the boss of Mask Génération, winner of the 2017 Réseau Entreprendre.
Its start-up, created in 2015 to launch anti-pollution masks, has grown in a few weeks from 5 to 28 employees, including 8 temporary workers.
“It's time to see how the business is developing: we can't recruit all over the place to make redundancies behind!
"
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Others who had started gave up quickly.
Like Oscar de la table, a Parisian company of around twenty employees which originally produced tablecloths and paper napkins for restaurateurs.
“We no longer make masks,” explains the manager.
The activity slowed down when the hypermarkets started selling it, and we resumed our traditional activity ”.
An activity which, too, is in slow motion like the activity of restaurateurs.
But it's not just masks in life at the time of Covid.
Thus, the Madicob company in Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône (Val-d'Oise) has embarked on a Plexiglas protective glass used as a mobile hygiaphone but also the creation of a box intended for hospitals allowing caregivers to intubate patients safely.
The company received a check for 56,000 euros from the region to purchase a Plexiglas cutting machine.
Or Air Captif in Trappes (Yvelines) which produces hermetic plastic cells for the transport of infected patients.
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"The crisis is not over"
So many creations of new activities, and jobs, which can only mitigate the shock of confinement and the total shutdown of entire sections of the economy.
According to a recent study by the Apur (Paris urban planning workshop), the losses of activities linked to containment measures are estimated at -37.2% for companies in the Greater Paris Metropolis, more than the French average which is -34.5%.
It was the west of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine, which suffered the most brutal drop with -41.5% around the towns of Boulogne-Billancourt and Issy-les-Moulineaux.
The regional economy is in fact largely based on the sectors most shaken by the health and economic crisis: air transport with airports still in sub-activity, tourism, culture, automotive, hotels, restaurants, etc. Who will still suffer with the latest government measures regarding opening hours.
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Valérie Pécresse is hardly under any illusion.
“The crisis is not over.
It is now and in the months to come that the impact on employment will be felt the hardest ”estimates the president of the region who has launched a call for projects for 50 new projects to be financed, with an overall envelope of up to up to 20 million euros.
It is still difficult to see it in the statistics, it will be necessary to wait until the end of the year for that.
But with a little over a million unemployed (all categories) last July according to INSEE, the regional economy has already suffered a halt when it was in an upward phase in recent years.
Information on regional aid for companies: www.iledefrance.fr/pmup-covid-19