OUR TEAM

Born in Coimbra, he has lived in several cities across the country, studied in the United States and took his PhD in Rio de Janeiro. He is an academic and has been a lecturer at the University of Coimbra’s Faculty of Economics since 1996. He holds a degree in Business Management and a PhD in Business Administration, and fancies moral philosophy and other ways of looking at things and of thinking. He is also a researcher at the Centre of Social Studies and the Centre of Cooperative and Social Economy Studies, and lectures on Financial Accounting, Human Resources Management, Organisational Behaviour, Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility. A humanist with a metaphysical calling and musician, he teaches to learn, likes to smile, prefers the countryside and mountains, retreats in poetry and, if he could, would sow all of life’s precious moments.

Born and living in Coimbra, he holds a degree in Business Organisation and Management from the University of Coimbra’s Faculty of Economics. He has monitored European Structural and Investment Funds, on behalf of the financing body, since 2001, and has been with Portugal Inovação Social since 2015. He has been an Académica de Coimbra football fan since forever, plays basketball and other sports that don’t benefit from his height. He loves music and is curious, direct, enigmatic and has a wonderful sense of humour.

With a degree in Economics from the University of Coimbra’s Faculty of Economics, she has had a varied professional career, closely linked to Social Economy. A micro-entrepreneur, mother of six and of Angolan descent, she is also part Lisbonite and loves Coimbra. She restores furniture and smiles, and is a firm believer in the notion that change in the world lies in the hands of a small group of thoughtful and committed citizens, just as anthropologist Margaret Mead so eloquently stated.

Born and raised in Penacova, near the Mondego River, he holds a degree in Business Organisation and Management from the University of Coimbra’s Faculty of Economics. His time at university was an important period in his life, not only academically, where he found his calling for financial management and information systems, but also socially, where he made friends for life. He has always been involved with EU Funds, whether working with promoting bodies or with financing institutions. He joined Portugal Inovação Social in 2015, on a project that he believes is “disruptive and motivating”, with a team he identifies with immensely. He loves technology, nature, cinema, Sporting football club and hanging out with friends or family. He was put to the test as a teenager, which shaped who he is and his outlook on life: steadfast optimist and firm believer that we should live in the now, one day at a time. He believes smiling is contagious and loves what he does, but his family comes first.

Born and raised in Trás-os-Montes, in the north of Portugal, she wanted to be a journalist or a psychologist so that she could work in war or disaster zones because she was fascinated by the images she saw on TV at home. She holds a degree in Human Resources Management and Gerontology and looks after those in need. She is a choir conductor, missionary, devoted advocate for justice and love, and easy going. Fate brought her to Portugal Inovação Social, where today she can be part journalist, part psychologist and part manager, but in other wars: discovering, encouraging and monitoring projects with the power to change communities and the world.

A father, born in the Alentejo region and Benfica fan, he likes Sociology because it simplifies understanding. For twenty years, he designed and managed projects, created, helped create and managed companies, ran NGOs and sat on the Board of other organisations involved in development. He consultants, has published several books and believes in social innovation and in sustainable development. He takes photographs because he doesn’t know how to paint. He takes photographs because he doesn’t know how to write poetry. He takes photographs because he believes that nature is the best poetry on canvas. He likes red, white and sparkling wine, which he prefers to have in good company rather than with food. Along the way he thought that he wanted to change the world, until he realised that it was he who had to change. The world knows best. Make no mistake about it.