Speaking to Portuguese newspaper Eco, the Portuguese-Angolan businesswoman said that in an initial phase the factory will start its activity with 10 employees. However, she added that she expects that number to exceed 50 workers at the end of the first year in operation.
Regarding the completion of the project – which will have an investment of over 10 million euros –, the official said that something "of this size does not take less than a year and a half".
Cited by Eco, the businesswoman informed that at the beginning of the summer she will travel to Angola to "work with the team in structuring the business plan".
The businesswoman also said that she intends to do things in order to put Angola on the test manufacturers' route: "I want to do things in order to put Angola on the map of test and medical device manufacturers. We will do everything with a level of quality and of European requirements".
In her interview with Eco, the official also highlighted the fact that she "has all the 'know-how' and experience of Pantest to not make the same mistakes" with this factory.
She also referred that the project should start with "the most sought after tests and in which there is a permanent lack in the market", such as for example hepatitis C, malaria, dengue and HIV.
Catarina de Almeida also said that when produced locally, the tests should be "cheaper and more accessible to the population", since the distribution and transport networks will be left out of the process.
Pantest is headquartered in Oliveira de Frades, district of Viseu and was created in 2014.
