
Ancestry and values since 1873
The business tradition of this family dates back to 1873, when Mr. Francisco Martínez Alba was born, an only child in El Siscar. From 1892, with only 19 years of age and for the following 12 years, he served his homeland with honour as a soldier. He also participated in the bloody war against the United States in Cuba in 1898, where he was also seriously injured as demonstrated on his military record. He was admitted to the Habana Alfonso XIII Hospital and after many years of very hard military service for Spain, he returned to his beloved village in 1904 where his dying father was waiting for him.
After many years of absence, his family members and friends presumed him dead.
Mr. Francisco Martínez Alba married Miss. Dolores Ayllón Egea and started a family in his home town. They brought up their 6 children with a lot of sacrifice and perseverance. They, even in those hard times, built a house for each one of them.
![]() Paternal great-grandparents |
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Using his initiative, he started up a small business with his wife based on buying and selling dried ball peppers (ñoras) to farmers in El Siscar and neighbouring villages. They even reached Orihuela, which was 9 kilometres away.
He carried the goods in sacks on his shoulders, with a rope or thick cord. Oddly enough, when he passed away, a dip in his right shoulder caused by the friction of the cord was noticed. This was because he always carried the sacks on foot, supported on his shoulder.
His small business also faced the famous economic crisis of 1929 (The Great Depression) and after successfully overcoming it years later, he recalled his important motto:
“The greatest wealth and assets of a businessman is his honesty and integrity”
He also liked to remind his children and grandchildren:
“The word of a businessman is worth more than a notarial certificate”
He instilled these values and principles to the generations that followed, which were passed on from father to son. Today, Francisco Martínez Campillo, his great-grandson, is proud to raise these values as a banner in the ECONEX code of conduct.
The beginnings
It all started in 1972, when Francisco Martínez Campillo was only 8 years old and saw his father, a humble cultivator, fumigating his crops and watching all the poisoned birds die, motionless on the ground.
It ready impressed him as a child, but to see his father ill for 2-3 days was what caused the biggest impact on him. His father was a mentor to him, a strong, young man, who stopped smoking, barely ate and even stopped gathering his friends.
![]() Francisco Martínez Campillo’s parents. |
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Every time his father fumigated his crops with pesticides this terrible situation happened again. This tough experience made Francisco, after finishing high school at the age of 15, take the decision to learn how to fight pests in a safer way (To help his father not to suffer these horrible consequences).
Francisco started Agricultural Professional Training in Orihuela, Elche and Torre Pacheco in 1979. After that, he began a degree in Agricultural engineering.
![]() Escuela Politécnica Superior” (Orihuela – Alicante) |
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In September 1985, before finishing the degree, the idea of launching a company came into his mind: developing solutions to fight pests without harming people’s health or environment. Then, in January 1986 when he was only 21, his idea turned into reality and his company was established as a sole proprietorship. His career path started in his paternal house in El Siscar (Murcia) in a 16 square meters room where his father used to keep his farm tools. In the year 2000 the sole proprietorship changed to its current status as a limited company.
ECONEX began to expand its business into other regions, opening the first national delegations in Seville, Toledo and Mallorca. Also, it opened its first international delegation in Turkey. Since then, the company has never stopped growing.
In July 2003, the company took the next step by acquiring a piece of land of 4.076 square meters to build its new headquarters in El Siscar (Murcia). After two years of construction, the inauguration ceremony for the new building took place on March 31, 2007.
![]() Francisco Martinez´s wife and children in the piece of land for the new headquarters |
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![]() The technical team and the new building under construction |
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![]() The inauguration ceremony for the new ECONEX headquarters on March 31, 2007. |
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From the beginning, Francisco Martínez Campillo has always supported innovation and protection of the environment through investigation, production and commercialisation of pheromones, attractants, repellents and traps for the capture of insect pests. Being that the best alternative to pesticides.
The perseverance and effort made have allowed the company to grow and acquire an experience over 38 years.
Our digital world
Continuous development and close relationships with its customers have been always two of the ECONEX´s priorities. With the emergence of digital world, Francisco Martinez made the most of this technological advancement to achieve these two objectives.
In 1997, the web ECONEX was created, but it was in 2008 when the aspect of the web changed and acquired the value that it has today. Giving high-quality information for users, not only about products but also about other topics relevant to the sector.
In addition, its specific websites are one of the things that ECONEX is prouder. These are more than 100 pages where it is given a concrete and deeply explanation about the most important agricultural and forest pests. They include information about their behaviour, morphology and biology characteristics, crops affected, damages caused and the solutions ECONEX suggests for their biocontrol.
With a single-click of mouse, its full catalogue of products has become available at its ONLINE STORE since 2015. In 2020 this service was also expanded to Europe.
The time and resources spent for years allow ECONEX to have close relationships with both, old and new customers, no matter where they come from.
ECONEX nowadays
These days SANIDAD AGRICOLA ECONEX S.L has 52.000 square meters in ownership from which the company exports to more than 52 countries around the world.
The continuous innovation and investigation let ECONEX to have a wide portfolio of products with more than 600 references with which it can be fought more than 450 pests. All of its products are made in Spain (with dignity and respect for its workers). They are used by farmers and forest agents from all over the world in more than 600.000 hectares.
This catalogue of products also shows the irrefutable values that ECONEX has, which come from his family business roots. These are: quality, innovation, creativity and sustainability, based on a corporative culture of effort and love for a job well done.
The company achieved ISO 9001:2015 certification for its quality management system in 2019. This certification strengthens and consolidates the effectiveness of its Quality System.
Since 1986, ECONEX has had a total commitment to high-quality products and services; customer satisfaction; and integration of human, social and environmental responsibilities.
Francisco Martínez Campillo and all the team at ECONEX work every day, developing and investing in R&D+I projects, in order to consolidate and maintain its leadership in the sector of pest biocontrol and continue meeting customer´s demands.