Retain talent with “taxation that is more friendly to young people and the working class”

The emigration of young people from Portugal to other destinations where they receive better salaries, or in search of other opportunities, is an increasingly evident issue, and which could cause serious damage to the country in the short term. term.

Between what can be done to convince those who leave to return more regularly and structural changes to be promoted across all sectors of society, the discussion extended to several personalities and extended to took place throughout the afternoon at Nova SBE, where the conference “Portugal: the country where you want to be†took place, organized by the Business Roundtable Portugal Association (BRP), and which featured Expresso as media partner.

The event was attended by Carlos Moreira da Silva, president of the BRP Association; Pedro Ginjeira do Nascimento, general secretary of the BRP Association; Bernardo Almeida, YouTuber; Paula Amorim, president of Galp; Pedro Castro e Almeida, president of Santander Europa; Martim de Sousa Tavares, conductor; Ricardo Araújo Pereira, comedian and commentator; Helena Sacadura Cabral, economist and writer; Mafalda Rebordão, co-founder of Coletivo Matéria; Ricardo Pires, CEO of Semapa; Sérgio Sousa Pinto, deputy; Vasco Elvas, tik tokerTRO; LuÃs Montenegro, Prime Minister; Pedro Rente Lourenço, data scientist at Laing O’Rourke (United Kingdom); Rosália Cubal Pena, doctor at Point f, Switzerland; Pedro Brinca, professor and researcher at Nova SBE; Daniela Melchior, actress; Maria Manuel Mota, CEO of the GIMM Foundation – Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine; and Nuno Marques, CEO of Visabeira.

Discover the main conclusions.

Convincing to return

• “We understand that more and better can be done to attract Portuguese people who emigrated,†guarantees Carlos Moreira da Silva.
• If leaving the country to have experience abroad is seen as good by the participants, it is important that this departure is not systematic, not just due to lack of opportunities, and that you take with you the opportunity (and desire to return ).
• “I would really like to be able to return to Portugal,†admits Mafalda Rebordão.

Work together

• There must be great synergy between the State, private sector and society to create conditions to make jobs more attractive and provide more conditions to create companies on a larger scale, for example.
• A “model of meritocracy, valuing people and a different dynamic†is needed, says Paula Amorim.
• For Sérgio Sousa Pinto “there is a pgrowth problem†in Portugal. And “without growth there is no prosperity†.

Changes to operate

• “The will is not enough if there is no boldness,†says Helena Sacadura Cabral.
• According to Ricardo Pires, “a startup in Portugal is only born with global ambition and this attracts talent. It takes scale.”
• “There is a word that really stimulates people and that is salary,†recalls Ricardo Araújo Pereira.

Impact of the return

• In a conversation with two emigrants, Luís Montenegro stated that “our emigration profile has changed a lot, it is now much more qualified†and expressed the desire to have “asociality that is more friendly to young people and the working class”.
• “I want taxation in Portugal that is an economic stimulus,†he pointed out.
• “I have to thank Portugal for the training it gave me, it’s exceptional”, says Rosália Cubal Pena.

Future

• It takes “gachieve scale in companies”, says Pedro Brinca.
• We need “a population that has the ability to think†, believes Maria Manuel Mota.
• As Daniela Melchior confesses, “the doors†to work in Portugal “remain open†.