Startup Braga, in partnership with UMInhoExec, promoted a debate session focused on the challenges and opportunities for startups in Portugal. The motto for the conversation was the presentation of the sixth edition of the School of CEOs, which starts in early March and whose registrations end on February 17.

The initiative counted with the participation of Manuel Caldeira Cabral, former Minister of Economy and current president of the Strategic Council of Startup Portugal, Carlos Oliveira, President of Jose Neves Foundation, former Secretary of State for Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Innovation and former president of InvestBraga, Maria Cunha, founder of Josefinas and co-founder of Wonther, and Francisco Maia, founder and CEO of Keyruptive, challenged those present to reflect on the challenges that an entrepreneur encounters during the process of building his business.

Sharing his experience as an entrepreneur, Carlos Oliveira highlighted the importance of initiatives like the School of CEOs "for the training of entrepreneurs who, in most cases, master the topics related to the development of their products, but don't know how to read balance sheets or balance sheets. "If entrepreneurs mastered some basic concepts of business management, they would be able to avoid some of the mistakes that often happen, both in terms of business management and when negotiating with investors," he added.

Manuel Caldeira Cabral also reinforced the idea that "entrepreneurs should accompany their experience in the area with broad knowledge that will enable them to hire human resources and efficiently manage teams".

The founders of two of the Startup Braga's community startups underlined the importance of having agile tools to support them in the day-to-day management of their companies, as well as to support them in important processes such as finding investors.

Francisco Maia, who, besides being Keyruptive's CEO, was also a trainee of the first edition of the School of CEOs, said that this initiative was of special importance for him to master some of the main actions arising from the management of a company.

Remember that the School of CEOs has already led to the training of more than 80 entrepreneurs, in five editions, with applications open for the 2022 edition until next February 17th. This is a training course certified by the University of Minho and its conclusion is worth 8 ECTS. Applications must be submitted here.  

Program Contents School of CEOs:

Strategy and Marketing - 20 hours

Human Resources and Leadership - 16 hours

Finance - 20 hours

Corporate Law - 8 hours

Masterclasses - 12 hours