Business strategies discussed at Cuatrecasas’s 8th Women in Business event

With 90 attendees, the 8th edition of the Women in Business (WiB) event, held yesterday at the Cuatrecasas auditorium in Lisbon, debated business strategies to improve the relationship between purpose and profit, linking them to female talent.

Returning to Lisbon after the first edition in 2019 (with the other editions being held in Madrid), the event addressed perspectives from various sectors, including services, construction, technology, and healthcare.

Under the heading “Purpose and Profit: Connect the dots,” this WiB addressed the possibility of maximizing the relationship between values, social impact, productivity, and profitability in company strategies, and reflected on the challenges that the tension between these imperatives poses for female talent.

Maria João Ricou, senior partner at Cuatrecasas, opened the conference with a welcome speech that highlighted WiB as a moment for reflection and debate on the challenges and opportunities that female leaders face. This was followed by a keynote speech from Conceição Zagalo, president of the board of directors of Fundação LIGA.

The debate was moderated by Mariana Norton dos Reis, a partner in Cuatrecasas’s Corporate and M&A Practice Area who organized the event, and featured the following top-level speakers: Sofia Correia de Barros, country manager at Diaverum in Portugal; Margarida Damião Ferreira, member of the executive committee and general board at Zagope; Benedita Miranda, general manager at Foundever in a multilingual region that includes Portugal, Spain and Italy; Andres Ortolá, country general manager and president at Microsoft Portugal; and Manuela Vaz Soares, country managing director and president at Accenture Portugal.

“I believe that companies have an obligation that goes beyond shareholder remuneration; they must actively contribute to the community they operate in, starting with the wellbeing of the people they interact with—namely, employees and customers,” said Sofia Correia de Barros.

Margarida Damião said, “For the construction sector to truly contribute to a sustainable future, which I believe is the actual worlds business purpose, we must prioritize investment in innovative methods and sustainable materials.”

Diana Rivera, a partner in Cuatrecasas’s Corporate and M&A Practice Area who also organized this event, was in charge of bringing the session to a close.

This is a Cuatrecasas initiative that aims to promote female talent and leadership and serve as a meeting point for business leaders to discuss current issues in the business world. WiB Cuatrecasas has already established itself as a leading forum in Spain and is consolidating its position in Portugal with great success.