Magali Maurizot Kur, a 42-year-old married mother-of-two, was born into a scientific world. Surrounded by a family of researchers, she developed a passion for analysis and a critical mind, backed up by a love for numbers. After completing a scientific Baccalaureat and two preparatory years at HEC Paris, followed by a degree from a business school, Magali earned her stripes in an audit company (PwC) and worked for 13 years in the automotive industry (Feu Vert, Mondial Pare-Brise, Faurecia). Working in Paris, Warsaw, and Cincinnati, one day her path crossed with that of Laurent Duray who offered her the position of CFO Group (Chief Financial Officer Group), a position she has held since January 2020 at Lim Group.
She discovered a group facing several challenges, with an ambitious drive to develop and expand internationally. She immediately adopted the spirit and energy that she encountered within the group and has fond memories of being welcomed into her position. She became fascinated with the production workshops, discovering therein exceptional products, artisanal expertise, cutting-edge technological tools, and traditional veg-tanning processes which had been modernized and updated. Similarly, on the field, expert enthusiastic teammates introduced her to the stables and the work involved in fitting a saddle to the back of a horse.
In March 2020 the COVID crisis hit. Solutions had to be rapidly put into place to preserve the financial health of the group. Magali was ready to swing into action, aware of the need to address this unprecedented situation and convince the banks to lend some security to a very uncertain situation and thus preserve the group’s financial interests.
The resilience that the company demonstrated during this unprecedented period was widely recognized, and a few months later, Lim Group initially merged with the start-up Arioneo and then with Audevard Laboratories, specialists in horse health and care. These new integrations resulted in defining the organization of the Group, which consists of three divisions: Riding, Leather, Health & Science.
This required a new divisional governance model, and Magali was offered the position of Managing Director of the Riding Division. As a bold and immensely talented woman, she unconditionally accepted the mission. Her promotion to this position was unanimously welcomed. Magali looks back over these last two years: “They enabled me to learn about all aspects of our activity – from performance management to budgeting, legal compliance, and our commercial development policy, through to the optimization of our supply chain – I was lucky enough to be surrounded by some extremely competent people who guided us in our decision making.” Here she talks a little about just a few of the subjects she will cover: “The development of brands within the “Riding” division is relatively mature and established. The challenges for the future are now around the organizational structure of our work abroad, to secure our activity and work better together. We are on the cusp of an uncertain economic period and our short-term challenges are to optimize our organization. This new challenge only strengthens my commitment to defend our shared project. I also want to preserve that state of mind which is so dear to our corporate culture – free, innovative, and lively.”
Magali is also very aware of environmental issues and wishes to strengthen our commitment to continue to preserve our ecosystem by setting continuous improvement ethical objectives. Responsible purchasing and controlling our carbon footprint will be key subjects for her in the coming years.
The big issues that have been proposed and supported by the Executive Committee of the Group, and that Magali will drive forward in the coming months will include securing our presence in North America, the development of the German market, the structuring of our production tool, and the establishment of tools targeting our operational excellence.
Her already packed agenda will undoubtedly get even busier, but when we talk to Magali, who is also a parent, about her “morning routine”, she responds without hesitation that trying to take her children to school remains a priority and will give her the strength and the balance she needs to devote herself fully to her new job as head of the