From fatigue, success was born. In 2012, Lina Assis Lopes, then a scholarship holder at the University of the Algarve (UAlg), was saturated with the monotony of the work she had and decided to create Untapped Events, the only company based in the Algarve that organizes scientific congresses.
This August, Untapped, headquartered in Centro Empresarial da Universidade do Algarve, which works with CRIA – UAlg's Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer Division, is to be congratulated, as it completes six years of existence. The balance, reveals Lina Lopes to the Sul Informação, is «very positive».
At a time when entrepreneurship was so in vogue, the managing partner of the company had the "courage" to take risks. O know-how it already had it because, since 1997, Lina Lopes had been organizing events, in parallel with her activity as a scholarship holder. The first, he recalls, was that year and "was about estuarine processes."
“I learned and immediately realized that I liked it because it was different. That congress, I remember, was in three languages: Portuguese, English and Spanish», he says.
“One day, I was working at the Center for Molecular and Structural Biomedicine, now the Center for Research in Biomedicine, and a researcher asked me to go get information to CRIA about a business idea that could be patented. I spoke with Sofia Vairinhos and then she explained to me that anyone with a business idea could ask CRIA for help», she explains.
Lina Assis Lopes did not know the work of UAlg's Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer Division and this revelation made her consider a change in her life.
«I thought: what if it was me? I was already feeling that tiredness of being on a scholarship, of always doing the same thing, of not climbing the ladder. Therefore, the idea of creating a company to organize congresses did not seem completely out of place”.
In just 15 days, a business plan was drawn up and the company was born which, since then, has organized more than 30 congresses or scientific events. The one that was most successful, in terms of participants, was the Pollutant Responses in Marine Organisms Congress – COUSIN 17, in 2013, which had 350 people.
The niche for which Untapped works is research, organizing events with professors from Portuguese universities or research societies. Basically, the area of origin of its managing partner.
«In the beginning, I still thought about holding all kinds of congresses, but here in the Algarve, I realized that it was not possible. Large business events are not made and, therefore, I will continue to bet on this niche. When I started to focus on working inside and not outside, that's when it all started to happen. I made a protocol with UAlg, under which I make discounts to researchers», he reveals to Sul Informação.
Lina Lopes confesses to being passionate about her work. “I really like what I do and people tend to see me excited. I never doubt it will work. There are problems, difficulties arise, but for me they end up being challenges».
“It gives me immense pleasure to plan an event that will only take place a year from now, because everything is open”, he says.
One of the strategies that the founder of Untapped uses to attract customers is presence on social networks. “I read a lot, took short online courses and talked to people who understand, to create my presence. There are few companies that organize congresses that are present on social networks. They close and do not have an appealing communication», he considers.
For the future, the perspectives are to continue to grow and try to expand Untapped, «always within the same niche: researchers from universities and research societies».
Photos: Golden Gonçalo | Sul Informação
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