There are hundreds of Portuguese around the world who lead operations in various sectors. They provide invaluable help in contacts whenever a Portuguese political or business delegation travels to the countries where they work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
With annual sales in excess of five billion euros, the\nsecond largest retailer in Africa, Pick’n Pay Retail, is led by Portuguese\nPedro Pereira da Silva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Based in London, Lloyds Bank with annual revenues of 26\nbillion euros, is also led by a Portuguese: Ant\u00f3nio Horta Os\u00f3rio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The European operation of the world’s fourth largest bank,\nHSBC, valued at 2.3 billion euros, is also led by the Portuguese, Ant\u00f3nio\nSim\u00f5es.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He is also a Portuguese, David Simas, who runs the Obama\nFoundation which raises more than 200 million euros a year. Then there is the\nPortuguese, In\u00eas Caldeira, the executive who runs the operation of L’Or\u00e9al in\nThailand, a company with an annual income of 40 billion euros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These are just a few examples of the Portuguese executives\nwho lead some of the largest companies and organizations on the planet,\nmanaging billions of euros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About 60 Diaspora executives will meet in Cascais at the\nDiaspora Council this Friday. How to adapt Portuguese society to the new\ndigital society is one of the themes of this year’s conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Diaspora wants to help develop Portugal.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Diaspora Council is an organization created so that\n\u201cPortuguese with extraordinary professional backgrounds eager to help Portugal\nhave a structure where they can do so,\u201d explains Filipe de Botton, founder and\nchairman of the Board of the Portuguese Diaspora. It is intended to \u201cbring the\nPortuguese of influence closer to outside Portugal\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are about a hundred figures from various sectors who\n\u201cdevelop actions to present Portugal in their host countries\u201d, adds the\nbusinessman. They also provide valuable help in contacts whenever a Portuguese\npolitical or business delegation travels to the countries in which they work.\n\u201cThey are very influential people in host societies who help Portugal,\u201d he\nadds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And there are already results since this board was created\nin 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The creation of a \u20ac 50 million Biotechnology Fund, in\npartnership with the University of Porto, was one of the initiatives\nimplemented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Councellors make the bridge between Portugal and the world<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The counselors \u201cact as a network of influence magistrates,\nbridging the gap between Portugal and the countries where they are,\u201d says Paulo\nEsteves Ver\u00edssimo, who runs a computer science research lab at the University\nof Luxembourg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Diaspora Council can help Portugal assert itself in the\nworld. Counselors in the countries in which they reside can have a more global\nview, \u201dsays Rita de Sousa Coutinho. Walmart’s manager in China states that\n\u201cthey are neither rulers nor politicians, but they live daily with the society\nof the countries in which they live, develop business, foster exchanges and\nshare experiences that may be very valid and relevant to Portugal. “<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everyone dreams of returning to Portugal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite having winning careers in the countries where they\nlive, all these advisors that Contacto spoke of dream of returning to Portugal.\nFor the professor at the University of Brussels, Paulo Esteves Ver\u00edssimo the\nonly question is: When? Because \u201cPortugal is the best country in the world to\nlive in\u201d, he replies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rita de Sousa Coutinho also says that she believes that \u201cthe\nreturn to Portugal will happen when I feel it is the right time, especially\nbecause I balance my personal life with my professional life\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pedro Pereira da Silva says that \u201csooner or later he will\nwant to return to Portugal, which is paradise\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By Contacto, December 2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are hundreds of Portuguese around the world who lead operations in various sectors. They provide invaluable help in contacts whenever a Portuguese political or business delegation travels to the countries where they work.","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1,203],"tags":[201,254,264,196],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n