How Portugal can adapt its mindset to attract further investment

The points were raised during one of the 15 carefully curated panels at the inaugural Portugal Investment Forum.

Also taking place in the Algarve, Lisbon and Estoril, the five-venue event brought together a high-profile audience of business figures and major investors.

All were discussing how to build on Portugal’s recent economic growth.

The debate featured Silvia Mota, CEO of Mext, the investment diversification arm of Mota-Engil, the multinational Portuguese engineering, construction, environment, transport and mining group headquartered in Porto.

Ms Mota argued Portugal's character is both its strength and its limitation.

She said: "We are a very ambitious country in a way. We want to do stuff, but we're scared."

She added that the nation’s history and culture had forced people to become individuals: "We didn't learn,” she said, “how to work as an ecosystem."

But she made a strong case to would-be investors.

"Ours is a very interesting country because it's very diverse, has very good universities and very good education," she said.

“I believe Portugal is a limited edition.

“Everyone who comes here on vacation - if they could, they would be living here, and they will never go back."

Asked what Portugal should fix to be more attractive, Miguel Soro, managing partner at MAADS Advisers, a Porto-based boutique financial advisory services firm, pointed to the scale of its businesses: "More than 95% of the companies that are headquartered in Portugal have less than 10 employees.

"So, fixing is not about legislation. It's not about legal frameworks. It's about our mindset," he added, urging investors to form club deals and co-invest. "In sharing the risk, you also share the return."

And he identified family-business succession as a key opening, if the next generation do not wish to take over.

Would-be investors could look to buy part of such a company, improve management or even merge firms to create scale.

Ms Mota agreed, saying "there are huge opportunities there".

Diogo Brito, architect and co-founder of Porto-based architecture and design firm OODA, urged investors to look beyond Greater Lisbon and the Algarve, and specifically to the North, the Douro and the Spanish border – noting only 18% of the Douro region is vineyards; the product it is most associated with.

He also called for some reality in the minds of investors looking at opportunities in Albania rather than Portugal: “They (Albania) just don't have infrastructure. They don't have motorways. They don't have railways. They don't have all the things that we now do have."

He also dismissed any suggestion that Portugal was peripheral: "We are not in the corner of Europe. We are central to Africa and to the US."

The panel also discussed Portugal’s best investment opportunities, which included tourism, culture, education, real estate, and health and longevity, as well as established industries such as footwear, metal mechanics, moulds and bicycles – it is Europe’s biggest cycle producer.

Of the latter group, Mr Soro said: "We have employees working there for generations, and I believe we have within our country some great people with the right skills."

Mr Brito made the case for film and screen production. Portugal offers a cash rebate, he said and “you have more sun, and the hospitality is better".

Paul Stannard, chairman and founder of event organisers Portugal Pathways and the Portugal Investment Owners Club, urged the country to focus on a few prime areas: "You've got to pick what you're going to win.”

Now Portugal-based, he announced that Portugal Discovered, an inward-investment programme, will launch next year.

"Portugal has identity and needs to harness its spirit. Portugal has a powerful energy.

“There's no shortage of ideas in the world, but there's a shortage of people that can execute them."

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