"The Portugal-Angola Forum is an initiative of a group of Portuguese-Angolan and Portuguese expatriates residing in Angola and intends to establish itself as a platform for Portuguese and Portuguese-Angolan staff interested in monitoring and strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries, promoting the creation of a network of contacts involving the business community, civil society, and expatriates residing in Angola", reads the presentation of the initiative, which Lusa had access to.
Álvaro Mendonça, executive president (CEO) of the Elevo group, is one of the six promoters of this informal group, "of private and personal initiative", which aims to bring together the Portuguese and Portuguese-Angolan community, and which was presented last Sunday to the President of the Portuguese Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, at a businessmen's dinner in Luanda.
Among the promoters of the initiative are also Gonçalo Froes, president of the CPI Consulting group; Francisco Tavares de Almeida, CEO of Millway; Miguel Afonso do Santos, general director of Epic SANA; Inês Filipe, head of KPMG Angola and Jorge Fonseca, head of the Angola Golf Academies and CEO of Moya McCann.
Álvaro Mendonça explains that the objective is to bring together Portuguese and Portuguese-Angolan businessmen in a common space, increasing connections and providing greater business opportunities.
"People don't know each other, they are divided into groups and we want to create communicating vessels between these groups. We want to organize a dinner once a month, with a guest speaker, national or international", who will be able to address the most diverse topics, he said to Lusa.
Something that other expatriate communities residing in Angola have been promoting for several years, but which will only now bring together the Portuguese.
"The idea is to quickly reach over 100 people," said Álvaro Mendonça, adding that each founding member will invite ten people, who will in turn be able to bring in new members.
The first meeting should take place in January, and who will be the guest speaker remains to be defined.
The space is intended to be informal and open to various areas, from companies to culture, from education to health, also highlighted the businessman.
The forum aims to strengthen the sense of community among the Portuguese and boost the promotion of Portugal in Angola and in the world, having outlined three main objectives, according to the document that was handed over to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa: to foster a business culture across the various sectors where Portuguese companies are present in Angola; cementing, with Angolan policy makers and business clients, the idea of Portugal as an essential partner for the country's economic diversification, and bringing members of the Portuguese community closer together, allowing for better information and sharing of experiences in the various sectors in the country and on the African continent.
