Premier League players can earn millions from their careers, but one overlooked former Arsenal hero has probably had considerably better success since leaving the club.
Mathieu Flamini, a Frenchman, made 246 appearances for Arsenal between 2004 and 2008, then again from 2013 to 2016.
After leaving Arsenal for the first time for AC Milan in 2008, he and his economics graduate business partner, Pasquale Granata, launched GF Biochemicals in the intention of revolutionizing the energy sector.
Outside of sports, the 39-year-old retired in 2019 and has achieved remarkable success with his second interest, biochemical entrepreneurship.
According to the Sun, the firm, which was founded 15 years ago, is now worth £21 billion – 40 times more than Cristiano Ronaldo’s stunning £500 million net worth.
Matheiu Flamini, a former Arsenal player, has changed his football uniform for business clothing and is a co-founder of the world’s first firm capable of mass-producing levulinic acid.
After establishing the firm in 2008, he and Granata invested millions in research, trials, infrastructure, and staff costs in the aim of generating levulinic acid, a synthetic oil alternative derived from wood and maize waste.
In 2015, their business became the first on the globe to mass produce the acid, which may be used to replace oil in the production of medicines, plastics, cosmetics, and other products.
‘We are pioneers,’ Flamini told the Sun at the time. We are entering a new market with a potential value of £20 billion.’
It led to his being named one of the NME’s People of the Year in 2015.
‘As a youngster, I had two passions: football and sustainability,’ the Frenchman, now CEO of the firm, told Sifted in an interview. I grew up near the water in Marseilles and was aware of the environmental issues around ocean plastics and chemical contamination from an early age.’
He kept his firm private from his teammates, family, and friends for the first five years that it was in his apartment because he ‘didn’t know which path the business would go in’ and because he felt greater pressure since he was a player.
‘Sometimes I obliged to get to the training ground dressed in a suit, yet when you go to training most of the time you wear tennis shoes, a tracksuit, and a T-shirt,’ he said in an interview with the Sunday Times.
‘So we were all laughing with the lads, and they were making jokes — “Oh, you’re the best businessman!” However, biochemicals are not often the topic of conversation in the locker room.’
He established GF Biochemicals in the hopes of revolutionizing the energy business.
The 39-year-old now claims to be joining the younger generation, such as Greta Thunberg, in laying the groundwork for the future.
‘Now the question is when do I not work,’ Flamini remarked. Being an entrepreneur requires dedication and not counting the hours. I’m not working when I sleep, but I’m available the rest of the time.’
‘I feel like I’m a member of the younger generation, like Greta Thunberg, who are laying the groundwork for the future.
‘Although I can tell you that at the age of 15 (when Thunberg held her first protest outside the Swedish parliament), I was not in the street fighting for my future.’
Since his company became the first on the planet to be able to mass produce levulinic acid, they have continued to grow.
Back in 2016, they acquired US company Segetis as they continued to look for green alternatives to oil.
Next to a graphic of the two businesses’ logos, Flamini tweeted at the time: ‘We founded GFBiochemicals to find green alternatives to oil. The acquisition of the American company Segetis takes us closer.’
According to the Sunday Times, the firm employed 50 individuals as of May this year throughout its global locations, which included a headquarters in Paris and R&D sites in the Netherlands and the United States.
