The Lisbon MBA Alumni Club Webinar – “ReImaginar Portugal: Plan for Recovery and Resilience of Portugal”
As the leading MBA Program in Portugal, the Lisbon MBA Católica|Nova streamlined through the Alumni Club, ReImaginar Portugal, an important initiative that aims to contribute to the definition of strategic paths for the long-term sustainable recovery and growth of Portugal.
The Lisbon MBA Alumni Club invited 30 leaders, decision makers and thinkers from our community, to contribute with their vision and strategic options. The outcome of these important insights was gathered in a document presented and discussed at a Conference that took place on November 2nd 2020.
At the end of year, the Alumni Club held the first webinar, to debate the future of Agriculture, with the presence of the Minister of Agriculture, Dra. Maria do Céu Antunes.
In order to keep developing this important initiative, the Lisbon MBA Alumni Club hosted a Webinar on the March 18th on the topic “ReImaginar: PRR – Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência”, with Nuno Oliveira Santos, proud alumnus of the Lisbon MBA Católica|Nova and President of the Agency for Development and Cohesion at IP – AD&C, who will be coordinating the European relief funds allocated to Portugal.
The online debate between Nuno Oliveira Santos, Cristina Campos, President of the Lisbon MBA Alumni Club and Ricardo Gonçalves, Vice-President of the Lisbon MBA Alumni Club, focused on the Plan for Recovery and Resilience of Portugal.
The urge to respond to the economic devastation caused by the pandemic has impacted the European social-economic strategy. Brussels has allocated 16 billion euros, most of it as grants, to Portugal, and the Portuguese government has submitted the Plan for Recovery and Resilience to the public for consultation. This broad strategic document includes fundamental structural reforms to ensure a successful exit from the pandemic crisis and to guarantee a resilient future for Portugal.
In this event, Nuno Oliveira Santos explained the financial, controlling and auditing functions of the Agency for Development and Cohesion, referring to its pivotal role in coordinating the funds that are sent to Portugal from the European Union and also its responsibility in ensuring that they can be invested in compliance with all regulations.
The President of the Agency for Development and Cohesion also went through some of the key aspects of PRR and its three biggest pillars – Resilience, Climate Transition and Digital – mentioning that the document represents a concrete response to the particular context of crisis we are currently facing.
Nuno Oliveira Santos applauded the ReImaginar Portugal Initiative, specifically the document with all 30 contributions and encouraged the alumni community to keep sharing proposals for the social and economic development of the country.
Finally, Nuno Oliveira Santos highlighted that he is extremely proud of the work of the Agency for Development and Cohesion, and specifically “the internal culture of openness and collaboration”. In his role at the Agency, he hopes to make his mark by simplifying across the board: “Things are not manageable if they are not simple. When things are complicated, they are usually wrong. My position is usually one of simplifying in order to facilitate the decision-making process. If I’m able to do that, I believe I have made my contribution”.
At the end, the audience asked questions about the real impact of this plan in the economy and Nuno stressed the importance of incentives for companies, the investment in innovation and in digital as key areas in Portugal’s economic and social recovery.
Cristina Campos closed the debate by thanking Nuno Oliveira Santos for accepting the invitation for this debate and encouraging all alumni to continue participating with its contributions to the ReImaginar Portugal Initiative.