Press kit

Daniel Bajada, Group CEO, and Mark Bajada, Chairman and Founder. Photography, biographies, company background and quotes cleared for editorial use. The full statement is on the campaign page.

Photography

Photographs from September 2026, for editorial use with credit to Bajada Lyons Group.

Biography: Daniel Bajada, Group CEO

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Daniel Bajada is Group CEO of Bajada Lyons Group, the Maltese energy, engineering and water group founded by his father in 1989.

Short (100 words)

Daniel Bajada is Group CEO of Bajada Lyons Group. He grew up inside the business and spent a full summer at twelve installing PV panels on Maltese roofs after a poor set of school exams. He moved into sales at eighteen, took over operations at twenty-one, and became General Manager in 2019. His stated priority as chief executive is to take the group's own manufacturing into export markets, with seawater reverse osmosis as the lead product. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing and Management from the University of Malta, earned while working full time.

Full (280 words)

Daniel Bajada is Group CEO of Bajada Lyons Group, the Maltese energy, engineering, water, healthcare and hospitality group founded by his father Mark in 1989.

He grew up inside the company rather than arriving at it. The office adjoined his grandmother's house, and his mother answered the phone with the company name so often that as a small child he gave adults the company as his own surname.

The formative period came at twelve. After a poor set of exams, his father sent him to spend the summer installing photovoltaic panels rather than on holiday, working alongside a single installer in forty degree heat. Some of those installers still work for the group. "When we discuss work, they feel comfortable as they know we are on the same wavelength."

He moved into sales at eighteen, took over operations at twenty-one in 2017, and became General Manager in 2019, going on to lead the business through the pandemic period. He has overseen quality control on the group's stainless steel tank manufacturing personally. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing and Management from the University of Malta, completed while working full time.

He is explicit that the move into manufacturing was his father's decision, taken in 2005 when he was a child, and that his own contribution is the step after it. The group has expanded its manufacturing capacity with the intention of exporting, with seawater reverse osmosis as the lead product line.

His stated priority as chief executive is distributing accountability through the organisation rather than concentrating it. "My father built this company by carrying it alone. My job is to make sure nobody ever has to again."

In January 2026 he hosted a Chamber of Engineers stakeholder visit to the group alongside his father.

Biography: Mark Bajada, Chairman and Founder

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Mark Bajada is the Chairman and Founder of Bajada Lyons Group, the Maltese renewable energy and engineering group he started in 1989.

Short (95 words)

Mark Bajada is the Chairman and Founder of Bajada Lyons Group. He left a salaried job in 1989 to import solar water heaters into a Maltese market that did not yet exist, and by his own account failed for the first years before the business took hold. In 2005 he moved the company into manufacturing, beginning with solar water heaters, and later into water treatment and desalination. The group now spans renewable energy, engineering, water, healthcare and hospitality, and employs over 200 people. He was named EY Entrepreneur of the Year Malta in 2022 and represented Malta at the World award in Monaco. He serves as Deputy President of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry.

Full (270 words)

Mark Bajada is the Chairman and Founder of Bajada Lyons Group, one of Malta's longest standing renewable energy businesses and now a diversified group spanning energy, engineering, industrial water, healthcare and hospitality.

He started in 1989 by importing solar water heaters into a Maltese market with no demand for them, having left a secure job to do so. He has described that period plainly: no support, entirely alone, and by his own account failing miserably in the first months, if not years, before tenacity and long hours produced results. His account of what carried him through is unsentimental. "Failing was not an option. It had to work, full stop."

Sixteen years later he moved the company from importing to manufacturing. Production began in 2005 with the same solar water heaters he had been importing, and expanded over the following two decades into industrial water treatment and, most recently, desalination. On the water side the group designs, manufactures, installs and maintains its own systems, including writing and programming the control logic rather than importing complete units.

The operating philosophy he built from it is one he still states in the same words: "We create business to do business," and "Business without risks is no business."

The group today employs over 200 people. Its interests include Bajada New Energy in solar and renewables, Pro Energy, and Lyons Care, which supports more than 120 elderly residents.

Mark was named EY Entrepreneur of the Year Malta in 2022 and represented Malta at the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year award in Monaco. He serves as Deputy President of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry and sits on its Council and Board of Management. He is a member of the Young Presidents Organisation and appeared as an investor across two seasons of Shark Tank Malta.

In 2026 his son Daniel became the group's first Group CEO.

Company boilerplate

Short boilerplate (60 words), for the foot of a press release

Bajada Lyons Group is a Maltese group founded in 1989, operating across renewable energy, engineering, industrial water treatment, healthcare and hospitality. It has manufactured in Malta since 2005. Its businesses include Bajada New Energy, Pro Energy and Lyons Care. The group employs over 200 people and was founded by Mark Bajada.

Long boilerplate (120 words)

Bajada Lyons Group is one of Malta's longest established renewable energy businesses and now a diversified group operating across energy, engineering, industrial water treatment, healthcare and hospitality.

Founded in 1989 by Mark Bajada, who left a salaried job to import solar water heaters into a market that did not yet exist, the group began manufacturing in Malta in 2005 with solar water heaters and today employs over 200 people. Its operating businesses include Bajada New Energy in solar and renewables, Pro Energy, and Lyons Care, which supports more than 120 elderly residents.

On the industrial water side the group designs, manufactures, installs and maintains seawater reverse osmosis systems in Malta, including building and programming its own control systems rather than importing complete units.

Facts

• Founder: Mark Bajada
• EY Entrepreneur of the Year Malta 2022; represented Malta at EY World Entrepreneur of the Year, Monaco
• Deputy President, Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry. Council member and Board of Management officer
• Member, Young Presidents Organisation
• Investor across two seasons of Shark Tank Malta
• Over 200 people across the group
• Lyons Care supports 120+ elderly residents
• 2022 SME of the Year
• Seven sectors: energy, manufacturing, engineering, healthcare, hospitality, real estate and innovation
• Chamber of Engineers stakeholder visit hosted by both men, 28 January 2026
• Twenty-three companies in the group
• Founded 1989; manufacturing in Malta since 2005; first import was solar water heaters

Quotes

Daniel Bajada, Group CEO

"My father built this company by carrying it alone. My job is to make sure nobody ever has to again."

"He did both. He started manufacturing in 2005, and the first thing he made was the solar water heater he had spent sixteen years importing. He made that call when the business was comfortable and nobody was asking him to."

"He imported when there was no market. He built it here when there was. My part is taking it off the island."

"We expanded the manufacturing with the intention of exporting it. That is the step I am accountable for."

"When I walk into a site, the first thing I read is not the numbers on the wall. It is energy. Whether someone stops what they are doing to explain something to me with pride, or goes quiet and waits for me to leave."

"I am looking for ownership. Is someone fixing a problem because they noticed it, or because they were told to?"

"You do not only lose that person's output. You lose the standard for everyone underneath them. Once people believe results buy you a pass on behaviour, that belief travels faster than any number you were trying to protect."

"Made in Malta is not a slogan on a van. It is a lead time, a service contract, and a phone that gets answered."

"I want the third generation to look at that name and feel pride. And feel there is still more to build."

"Some of those installers are still with us to this very day. When we discuss work, they feel comfortable as they know we are on the same wavelength."

Mark Bajada, Chairman and Founder

"Business without risks is no business."

"We create business to do business."

"I had no support and I was totally alone, and had left my secure job to fulfil this dream. In the very first months, if not years, I had failed miserably. Failing was not an option. It had to work, full stop."

"Putting your name in the business clearly shows that there are no filters and you have to commit."

"My first plan is not to make money, but how I will impact other people's lives with what I'm doing."

"The basic tools I have used since I started are observing, listening carefully, and being fair and present. Knowledge with ambition is key."

"What I would love to see is that passion for innovation and solutions carried on in the next generation."