A new attitude can change everything!

I learned, from an early age, that in life and in business there is only one way to be: with passion and audacity, with resilience and a positive spirit, with Plan A and B, anticipating and not trailing, listening more than speaking – and that intuition and a business plan do not always go hand in hand. I inherited and did not stand idly by: I have always worked, also decided to take my own business risks, added value to my heritage, and to my Portugal.

I recognize that we have an extraordinary country, heir to a great culture and history of achievements, blessed with extraordinary light, climate, a maritime coast, gastronomy, viticulture, and extraordinary social peace, but that has been haunted by a total lack of ambition, management ability, planning, and strategy.

It is urgent to create a favorable environment for reforms that simplify bureaucratic processes, reduce the tax burden, and provide the much-desired stability, essential for a competitive environment and inducer of healthy business development. It is also crucial to build trust relationships between the private sector and public institutions, establishing transparent dialogues to understand the needs and challenges faced by those who invest.

In the business context, the aversion to risk is a constant shadow hanging over entrepreneurs. This fear is not limited to the business’s own financial risks but is deeply rooted in the fear of the State, its possible reprisals, and its constant oscillation. Tax collection may be the State’s “function” that works best – which says a lot about its voracity and sense of self-subsistence.

On the other hand, many entrepreneurs I know live with the constant concern of being victims of punitive regulations, arbitrary inspections, or even being the target of “lessons” and reprisals.

Those who dare to challenge fate easily find themselves buried in a web of bureaucracy, excessive regulations, extraordinary and provisional taxes that persist in remaining, and a constant uncertainty about changes in exogenous variables – all to maintain the splendor that misgoverns us.

"This scenario of distrust and fear stifles creativity, ambition, discourages innovation, and limits growth. Many investors, potential young entrepreneurs, have good ideas and are willing to invest and create jobs, but the discredit for the country, the fear of what the State might do to obstruct their dreams, is paralyzing. Lack of hope, resignation, are barriers that suffocate creativity, ambition, and growth. So, despite everything, all that remains is to trust the young people of this country.”

This scenario of distrust and fear stifles creativity, ambition, discourages innovation, and limits growth. Many investors, potential young entrepreneurs, have good ideas and are willing to invest and create jobs, but the discredit for the country, the fear of what the State might do to obstruct their dreams, is paralyzing. Lack of hope, resignation, are barriers that suffocate creativity, ambition, and growth. So, despite everything, all that remains is to trust the young people of this country.

In a normal world, and to change this reality, it would be imperative for the State and authorities to think more about the sustainability of the country, to promote and create conditions of stability and confidence in the lives of the Portuguese in the long term, to promote policies and reforms, to attract and diversify national and foreign investment, and above all, to seek priority measures to favor the entrepreneurship of young people and retain the enormous Portuguese talent.

But in reality, the system we have seems more concerned with punishing than with prospering and fostering growth. And with this, a conservative mentality has been created, where the main objective is to criticize and not be noticed instead of innovating, creating value, and succeeding.

So, I appeal to the young people of this country not to resign, to stay for those who are here and return for those who have left. We urgently need to create a society of men and women who are more independent, transparent, determined, and who fight with precision and resilience in their ambition and objectives; who believe that dreams command life and that ‘luck’ favors the bold.

Don’t be defeated by the difficulties on the way, by dissenting voices, and the fatalism of our fate. Fight, persevere on the path because life is not for the faint-hearted.

Change requires effort. And one of the greatest efforts does not require investment or a business plan: Attitude!