João Paulo da Silva

Senior VP and General Manager SAP Southern Europe and Francophone Africa

  • Company SAP
  • Country Spain
  • Sector IT

João Paulo da Silva is Senior Vice President & General Manager and responsible for SAP’s South Europe and Francophone Africa (SEFA) region – a role he has held since January 2018. The cluster comprises 24 countries, and is home to more than 1,000 SAP team members that are focused on helping companies innovate with technology that supports their strategies and adapts their business models to today’s digital economy.

João Paulo has been with SAP since 1996. Before leading SAP’s SEFA cluster, he served as Managing Director of SAP Spain, where he led the organization to become one of the fastest growing SAP markets in Europe. He also helped transform the organization into one of the best companies to work for in the Spanish market. During his tenure with SAP, João Paulo has held a number of international leadership positions in the Marketing and Sales teams across Europe.

In 2019, João Paulo became certified as Non-Executive Director by INSEAD, and in 2020 was part of a group of INSEAD’s international directors to co-found the ID29 Think Tank. ID29’s purpose is to establish and promote good practice, insights and awareness on governance themes to the general public.

João Paulo began his career as an entrepreneur and co-founded a services company for the IT and Farming industries in Portugal in the 1990s. During his professional years he has lived in Lisbon, Milan, Barcelona and now in Madrid. He speaks five languages: Portuguese, Spanish, English, Italian and French.

A graduate in Mathematics and Computer Science from the Beira Interior University (Portugal), João Paulo also completed a postgraduate program in Marketing at the Universidade Católica de Lisboa (Portugal), a Business Management qualification from ESADE / CV Consultores (Spain) and a Transformation Leadership course in IMD Business School for Management (Switzerland).

A passionate advocate of workplace inclusivity, João Paulo is executive sponsor of the SAP Business Women’s Network in Spain.

Is a member of the Portuguese Diáspora since December 2021.