Economic growth is putting an end to loss of homegrown Portuguese talent

That was a key message debated during the inaugural Portugal Investment Forum – a series of five high-profile events that toured the country to discuss how it can continue to grow its economy.

Wouter Heijnen heads up an Algarve-based angel fund Sotavento Invest. He explained: “Portugal was a low-wage country for many years, so it made sense that people moved out.

“But what we are seeing now is a lot of people coming back. The economy is changing and they see the opportunity.

“If you look at the University of the Algarve in Faro, they facilitate start-ups and PhD students who want to be an entrepreneur.

“That’s where it starts, and that’s how you keep talent.

“With investing in early-stage companies, you start to work on the mentality of graduates that entrepreneurship is an option.”

But the strategy also needs to be broader – attracting what Paul Stannard, chairman and founder of event organisers Portugal Pathways and the Portugal Investment Owners Club, who moderated the panel, described as “both the acorns and the oaks”.

In other words, the headline-grabbing investments from the likes of Nvidia and Microsoft also need to be complemented by the emergence of strong, well-funded, successful local businesses that anchor the economy.

Asked how companies, individuals, entrepreneurs and investors can use legal processes and tax programmes to draw back value creators, Duarte Ornelas Monteiro, a lawyer at RFF, one of the country’s oldest and best-established law firms, said the aim is to keep doing what works while fixing what doesn’t.

He explained: “Portugal has a good advantage. We do not change a lot. We have had the same two parties governing Portugal since 1974. We do have this stability.

“Geographically, we're far away from the bad things happening in the world; we have an international airport with flights to everywhere in the world; we have a Golden Visa programme focused on investment funds; and we also have a scientific programme.

“There are special tax regimes to attract young people and specific taxation for startups or for small and medium companies

“So, we have the tools. If it works, however, is a different question.”

Jack Soifer, a Swedish engineer and consultant who has been investing in Portugal since the 1980s, also pointed out a difference in how investments are treated.

He explained: “If you are investing more than €100 million you will get all the support you need.

“If it is less, the laws exist, but the question is how to use them, who is going to help you, and how to apply [for that support]. That is very important.

“There are hundreds of thousands of very talented young people who left Portugal and they dream of coming back – but you have to listen to what they need to come back.”

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About Portugal Pathways

‍‍Portugal Pathways has supported hundreds of Golden Visa residency-by-investment applications and provides expert guidance through its professional supply chain network on estate planning, wealth management, Golden Visa and tax optimisation, including post-NHR / IFICI tax regime planning, as well as private healthcare, money transfers and bespoke relocation and luxury real estate solutions to enhance life and investment in Portugal

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