Acredita Portugal inaugurates incubation project in Vila Nova de Gaia
Acredita Portugal opens on April 16th a new incubation project that aims to provide a space and new tools for entrepreneurs in the north of the country. The inauguration event will include various workshops and a debate on entrepreneurship.
Lisbon, April 11, 2019 - A Believe in Portugal is preparing to inaugurate, on April 16, a new incubation project aimed at providing support and tools to entrepreneurs located in the northern part of the country. The inauguration event will begin at 5pm in Acredita Incubação's new space and will be attended by the Mayor of Vila Nova de Gaia, Dr. Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues.
The date will be marked by a number of free workshops throughout the day on entrepreneurship and an afternoon debate on the topic with Filipe Almeida, President of Portugal Inovação Social, Karim Merali, CEO of the Aga Khan Foundation, and Pedro Ricardo Gomes, Head of Microfinance and Social Entrepreneurship at Banco Montepio.
To Fernando Fraga, Head of Innovation from Acredita Portugal, "The history of Acredita Portugal has already spanned 11 years, during which time we have been able to help thousands of entrepreneurs. The experience and network of contacts we have developed in this process will be essential for this new stage of the association and for the support we will provide to the entrepreneurs now incubated. This support includes personalized support for these projects, in order to ensure that they attract investment, grow their team and optimize their business model. We want this to be a space for consolidating these projects and giving them the impetus to launch them onto the market."
This new Acredita Portugal project is being developed with the support of Vila Nova de Gaia City Council and includes two spaces that will be promoted by the association: one in the area of creative industries and the other geared towards technological entrepreneurship and the social economy.
The incubation space has the capacity to support a total of 75 entrepreneurial projects, 30 linked to the creative industries and 45 linked to new technologies and the social economy. Although it will take place at regional level, the incubator will have a national scope, based on a broad network of contacts and partners and a unique vision of supporting entrepreneurship, the result of more than 10 years of experience by Acredita Portugal in igniting projects.
The project arose from Acredita Portugal's need to grow and fulfill a mission of fostering a culture of possibility to unleash the entrepreneurial potential of the Portuguese, which has been developed in recent years through the organization of the country's largest entrepreneurship competition. This initiative has made it possible to support any entrepreneur with a business idea to turn it into a real project.
With the invitation from Vila Nova de Gaia City Council, Acredita Portugal is taking a necessary step towards broadening its scope and supporting the evolution of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Portugal.