Porto Business School is the business school of the University of Porto, and its mission is postgraduate teaching and executive education. 

The school gives its students a set of innovative, challenging experiences that go well beyond the basics of management, making sure they acquire the skills and knowledge that a successful career depends on.

What Porto Business School does has a direct and significant influence on the social, economic and environmental fabric around it, regionally, nationally, and in wider geographies too, thanks to its internationalisation and its collaborative networks. 

Sustainable development has taken on an increasingly central role in the school’s strategy, including metrics tied to social responsibility and social performance. A good example is the “Sustainable Act” project, which sets out to equip Portuguese SMEs with new knowledge, methodologies and tools so that they can contribute to sustainable development. The Sustainable Talks came out of that project, in the middle of the pandemic.

What are the Sustainable Talks?

I had the pleasure of interviewing experts, influencers, entrepreneurs and engineers to demystify what sustainability actually is, and how companies and organisations benefit from putting sustainable development into practice. The result was a set of informal conversations on different themes and concepts: circular economy, ethical financing, communicating sustainability, community capacity-building for circularity, environmental awareness. 

The 10 guests are among the most remarkable and fascinating specialists in the field, and they certainly helped meet the goal of demystifying sustainability, and showing how we as individuals, and companies as organisations, can play a fundamental part in change.

The Sustainable Talks guests

EcoX, César Henriques, Founder

CEO of EcoX, responsible for managing the research and development project “EcoX, recycling food fats through Green Chemistry”.

Cristina Calheiros, Environmental Engineer and Researcher at CIIMAR

With a life dedicated to environmental education and collaborative projects, Cristina Calheiros covers a multitude of projects that push at the boundaries of learning and of working across disciplines.

Rita Casimiro, MAZE Impact

MAZE invests in businesses that offer effective solutions to social and environmental problems, and supports entrepreneurs in scaling those solutions into the European market. Rita leads Maze X, the European impact acceleration programme, where she works side by side with startups to make sure they reach their full potential and impact.

Pedro Maçana, Co-founder of Wayz

Wayz is a startup incubated at UPTEC (the University of Porto Science and Technology Park), with a new way of making trainers. Pedro Maçana became its co-founder after an established career both in Portugal and abroad.

Filipa Gouveia, Founder of ECOnnect PT and of the Circular Economy Club in Braga

Founder of ECOnnect Portugal, organiser of Circular Economy Club Braga, ambassador for the Circular Economy Institute and creator of the Vida ECOnsciente project. She runs events tied to the circular economy and works with the Municipality of Vila Nova de Famalicão in the URBACT Resourceful Cities working group, driving circular economy projects in the community.

António Ferrari, Communications Adviser for Portugal, UN

He is currently the UN’s Communications Adviser for Portugal at the United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe, based in Brussels. We talked about the role of the United Nations and of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Rita Oliveira, Director of Communications and Marketing, GoParity

Rita, Director of Communications and Marketing, tells us about GoParity: an impact finance and investment app with the mission of democratising access to sustainable finance. It connects companies that need funding for sustainable projects with people who want to invest sustainably.

Catarina Barreiros, Influencer and Founder of Do Zero

Catarina Barreiros worked in fashion and cosmetics until she found her life’s mission in sustainability. She is an influencer, and the founder and CEO of the shop Do Zero.

Joana Campos Silva, Fashion Makers Studio

She considers herself a “Maker” and works as a consultant in fashion communication and sustainability. She is also a consultant at Fashion Makers Studio, where she develops fashion brands. She collaborates with Moda Portugal, the Technological Centre for the Textile and Clothing Industries, the Vocational Training Centre for Jewellery and Watchmaking, the Portuguese Footwear Technology Centre and ESAD.

Luis Amado, B Corp movement

Luís Amado, Executive Director of B Lab Portugal, a non-profit association whose purpose is to measure the positive impact of companies.

To sum up: it was a remarkable experience to be able to talk to all these people, with such different experiences and backgrounds but all with one goal in common, to leave the planet better than they found it. All of it for a society that is more conscious and more alert to what is around us.
I came away inspired, with a sense of a job well done… and wanting more conversations like these!

I hope you feel as motivated and as influenced as I did!

Have you watched the Sustainable Talks?

If NOT, go and watch them, then share your thoughts with me.
If YES, share what you made of them in the comments or by private message on Instagram.

Would you like more conversations like these?

Your opinion matters to me 🙂