The migratory flaws in the Portuguese history are quite a few, and that might be seen since the Discoveries. Some years ago, a new migratory flaw occurred, the reasons behind it and the motivators were quite different from other flaws in the Portuguese history. Since 2008 Portugal is facing a huge financial crisis, but this time the talented Portuguese people also ran away, leaving the low wages and the lack of opportunities and also the lack of new projects, new investments, and other things that crises bring.  The strategies adopted by the Portuguese government are beginning to bear fruits, we have been witnessing an economic stabilization, the investment in the economy is growing rather public and private and nowadays it represents about 18% GDP.

Given the favourable economic environment and the growth of opportunities, the great Portuguese talents that were living and working abroad are now considering to return, and this is very good news to the Portuguese economy. The main problem these people face is the lack of a professional network that can open doors to new working opportunities. An MBA is for sure a way to mitigate this fragility. The Lisbon MBA has been observing some cases like that, and it is very interesting to understand what are those “returnees” doing and how an MBA helped them to integrate the job market after some years immigrated.

The Magazine interviewed some of The Lisbon MBA alumni that are good examples of this situation, and they are Gabriela Fabião, Diogo Torcato, Diogo Saraiva and Ana Viana.

The Lisbon MBA, a joint MBA program between Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics and Nova Schools of Business and Economics, in partnership with the MIT Sloan School of Management was, according to the above-stated alumnus, the most important reason to return to Portugal.

Diogo Saraiva, a Civil Engineer who used to live and work in Perú, South America, says “The Lisbon MBA offered me the best conditions to return and stay in Portugal after the program. One other reason to choose this program was the opportunity to move industry, which revealed to be a real possibility once, nowadays, I’m working as an E-commerce Project Manager at Worten, the biggest tech retailer in Portugal”.

Diogo Saraiva, E-commerce Project Manager at Worten Portugal (former Civil Engineer working in Perú), interviewed by Rádio Comercial

Diogo Torcato, an Engineer, working in France, moved to Lisbon to pursue The Lisbon MBA and move industry. “The Lisbon MBA gave me a series of new skills, I learned about new themes, like Marketing, for example. Thanks to the new learnings I am now a consultant at McKinsey & Company”.

Diogo Torcato, Consultant at McKinsey & Company (former Civil Engineer working in France), interviewed by Rádio Comercial

Gabriela Fabião had the chance to consolidate her knowledge in Management. She used to work in Norway which, according to her, “is a wealthy country with a good work-life balance. However, returning to Portugal was a very good option which is making me very happy so far”.

Gabriela Fabião, Entrepreneur (former Engineer working in Norway), interviewed by Rádio Comercial

Lastly, Ana Viana, who worked in a construction company in Angola says “I moved back to Lisbon hoping to change working industry and experience new roles. The Lisbon MBA provided me with the right set of tools and luckily, now, I’m working in the Pharmaceutical Industry”.

Ana Viana, The Lisbon MBA Alumna (former Engineer working in Angola), interviewed by Rádio Comercial

The Lisbon MBA offers two MBA programs, International Full Time MBA and the Executive MBA, both in partnership with the MIT Sloan School of Management, these alumni of The Lisbon MBA found in the program an opportunity to explore new career paths and, also, an opportunity to return to Portugal.