The bright white balloons at Rua das Flores make people look at the sky. Is the sky the limit? What makes entrepreneurs develop new businesses?
The Start & Scale Week is on, with several activities to diverse audiences.
Yesterday Porto had the chance to learn with the stories entrepreneurs shared about their businesses. Fernando Alvim was the moderator, and it had Rui Moreira, the City Mayor, Vitor Magalhães, CEO at BySide and Virgílio Bento, CEO at SWORD, as the protagonists.
“In this day, which intends to be relaxed, I would like to invite you to listen to the stories of city’s great entrepreneurs, also responsible for the entrepreneurial environment we’re very proud to have in this region.”
But if Rui Moreira spares introductions, who are these entrepreneurs invited to share their stories?
Virgílio Bento is the CO-FOUNDER & CEO of SWORD Health. The startup, whose mission is to reinvent the industry of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation through technology, was considered in March of 2015 one of Europe’s most innovative companies and was awarded with an investment of 1.3M€ to accelerate the project’s development.
Vítor Magalhães is the CEO of BySide. Based in Porto, the company is specialized in segmentation, customization and conversion digital services. It is revolutionizing the sales’ process through pioneer methods, 100% made in Portugal. With ongoing projects in 17 countries and 4 continents, BySide has twice integrated the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 index.
Porto is a city where is easy to build a team and develop a business, according to BySide’s Vítor Magalhães :
“Porto is a fantastic city to work in – it’s easy to have work power here, considering this entrepreneurial ecosystem. The city is growing and people recognize that, here and abroad.”
The contribution of the local authorities in the growth and affirmation of this entrepreneurial ecosystem, was also a discussion issue. Rui Moreira argued that entrepreneurs need to be more involved in political affairs:
“We’ve been trying offer the city as a living laboratory, but we want to do more. We’d like to have positive discrimination methods for startups and scaleups; however, we found obstacles in the legislation. It is essential that these entrepreneurs become more involved in politics, so they can contribute to build adequate policies that help their companies to grow in a sustainable way.”
The day also had the Open House at UPTEC, with an informal lunch that offered the opportunity to know more about a place that helps businesses grow in a sustainable way.
As creating synergies and exploring opportunities is so important, 35 meetings took place, between startups and big organizations, such as CEIIA, SONAE, GLINT or Metro do Porto, during the event “Doing Business: Startups meeting Corporates” that took place at Palácio das Artes.
The connection between the several players is crucial to develop the ecosystem. It is one of the pillars of the ScaleUp Porto Manifesto.
Be part of this week and help the city build a more active and sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem. Remember, the sky is the limit!
Photos with the best moments of the day can be found here and video here.
