José Ribau Esteves
João de Sousa Rodolfo
José Augusto Silva
Managing director of Seara
He could have been a footballer, but he channeled his training methods into the business world, and is now CEO of Seara. If he had been a coach, he would organise his team as Jürgen Klopp of Liverpool fame does, maybe because that is how he structures his company and gets results. He studied Electrical and Computer Engineering, specialising in Telecommunications, and from there his career rocketed. As with many Portuguese, Expo’98 was a milestone in his life, but in his case the impact was professional and not recreational.
You were very close to a career in professional football, which came to a halt due to an injury. Are you sorry that this dream never came true?
I love playing football to this day, although I only do so from time to time. At that time it was indeed a great passion of mine. However, today, with the distance of time, I’m not sure if I was that close. But I would have loved it, even more so now, knowing how much top-leve football has evolved in the last 30 years, in terms of training, dedication, observation, commitment and resource management and performance.
As an entrepreneur, which football coach do you most identify with?
Nowadays, I really like Jürgen Klopp, for the commitment and complicity he has with all players and team members, in the interests of entertaining football and good results.
«There are now more challenges, markets and a broader team to make a difference and to better implement our customers’ ambitions»
What was the key moment in your career?
I think there were two moments: the first, in 1997, when I switched from a career in the field of telecommunications engineering to that of a commercial manager, in the same company. I’m talking about the project that the PT Group created at the time to address Expo’98 and where I learned a lot about business and discovered that I accomplished a great deal finding and designing solutions for customers. Even today it is a facet and practice that I can’t do without. The other moment was in 2006, when I was invited to become managing director of Seara, because the entrepreneurial challenge I faced was, on the one hand, to manage an SME, and on the other, the personal side, not knowing whether or not I was up to it.
Seara has recently joined the Deloitte network. What changes does this imply?
There are now more challenges, markets and a broader team to make a difference and to better implement our customers’ ambitions. Deloitte’s global network now has several digital teams that enable us to expand and exchange skills, as well as taking part in challenges abroad and in other markets.
What are the greatest challenges the world is going to face in the IT and digital areas?
I would say they include the reliability and integrity of the data. Cybersecurity has never been so present on everyone’s agenda. On the other hand, customers (us) have never been so different and dispersed in terms of digital footprint and brands and companies thus find it more difficult to create touch points that have an impact on their engagement relationship with their customers.
