Beta Talk will enter the spirit of the IV Urban Rehabilitation Week, which is taking place in Portimão, and will cast an entrepreneurial look at the revitalization of old city centers, in its April edition, which takes place on Monday 16, at 19:00 pm, at Café Concerto at Teatro Municipal de Portimão.
For this, the Chamber of Portimo, the organizer of Beta Talk at a local level, invited Nuno Almeida Fernandes and Diogo Perry, co-founders of the hostel Alagoa House e hostellicious and Michael Caixinha, co-founder and current owner of Torch House, for "an inspiring conversation" about new business ideas and winning bets that they carried out in the historic centers of Faro and Portimão.
Nuno Almeida Fernandes and Diogo Perry have been friends since college, where they graduated in Business Management. They left Lisbon and headed south to, together, with another partner, open what would be the first hostel in the city of Faro, the Casa d'Alagoa, in August 2011.
«A building with more than 200 years, located in the heart of the city, in an advanced state of degradation, gained a second life, had its original name recovered, its original features maintained and last year was considered the ninth best in the world for the 'Hostel of the Year' awards”, according to the Municipality of Portimão.
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bet on the city of Faro would be reinforced in 2017, when the two decided to open what will be the biggest hostel in the Algarve with 150 beds – Hostellicious.
Nuno Almeida, in addition to his degree, has a postgraduate degree in Marketing and International Business from INDEG-ISCTE. He started working at Jornal de Negócios, worked at Tempus Internacional, SIC, TNS Euroteste and was Marketing and Sales Director at Check-House before moving to the Algarve and, in 2009, starting to look for opportunities in the local tourist market.
Diogo Perry embarked on an international career from an early age, passing through Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Spain. Specialized in the area of large-scale distribution and brand positioning in impulse purchase locations. He was responsible for national operations, in the large distribution of CSD Coca-Cola.
He invested in and was the founder of Hostel Alfama Patio in Lisbon, in the initial moments of the proliferation of Hostels in Portugal, in 2007.
Michael Caixinha is an Algarvian born in Cologne, Germany. At the age of 8, he moved to Portimão, the land of his grandparents where he lived his youth until he went to University, in Lisbon, where he attended a law course at the Universidade Autónoma.
He stayed in the capital for seven years, not only studying but also working - he was responsible for buying alternative music, jazz and electronics at Valentim de Carvalho and a Reader's Digest contributor, among other professional incursions.
Back in Portimão, in 2002, he was part of the creation of the “Marginália” bar, an alternative night entertainment space in the old town. At the same time, it started to dedicate itself to the exploration of tourist developments, a family business that today gains a new scale with the Algarve Connected project, a website that presents several offers of local accommodation and complementary tourist activities that exist in the region.
«In 2013, with his vision and entrepreneurial spirit and, in partnership with a friend, he launched a new look at the historic center of the city and gave life to Casa da Tocha. A vacant building for over 20 years, which after 2 years of remodeling and without forgetting its origins, gives birth to something new in Portimão, opening its doors as a Hostel, Taberna and Shop», according to the Câmara de Portimão.
An overnight space, serving “meals, snacks and above all special moments. Because it believes in the importance and potential of the revitalization of city centres, it has another project in the pipeline for Portimão, which involves the opening of an innovative “crudívore” restaurant space».
More than an event with a scheduled date and time (always on the 16th of each month, in the late afternoon), Beta Talk in Portimão has become since July 2012 «a meeting point for enterprising people and an inspiring movement, promoting in the informal and relaxed atmosphere of the Café Concerto do TEMPO – Teatro Municipal de Portimão, contacts and sharing experiences».
Entry, as usual at Beta Talk Portimão, is free but subject to prior registration, which must be done online. The wine-break is up to whoever attends the session, and participants are invited to bring wine (or juice) and snacks to share.
Beta Talk is an initiative promoted by Beta-i – Association for the Promotion of Entrepreneurship and Innovation and is locally organized by the Municipality of Portimão, with the media partnership of the newspaper Sul Informação and the collaboration of Escola Secundária Poeta António Aleixo, at the level of the Multimedia Course, which ensures photographic coverage.
Partners are also the University of Algarve, through CRIA – Algarve Regional Center for Innovation/Division of Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer, ANJE – National Association of Young Entrepreneurs, NERA – Business Association of the Algarve Region, RUA FM university radio, APGICO – Portuguese Association for Creativity and Innovation, GAIM – Academic Office for Research and Marketing and Inesting, as well as the Algarve Emprego page, in terms of dissemination.
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