The Municipality of Albufeira distinguished 21 companies on March 73st, 43 of which were PME Líder 2022 and 30 PME Excelência 2022.
The ceremony, which takes place annually, this year took place at “Garrafeira Soares Mixology & Education Studio”, a company created in Albufeira in 1983 by Maria Antónia and João Soares, first as a minimarket and then as a wine cellar, and which was honored by the Municipality of Albufeira .
Being a Leader and Excellence SME, as it employs more than 300 people and owns 28 stores. Dedicated to retail and wholesale trade, Garrafeira Soares is present in the lower Alentejo and on the Alentejo coast, throughout the Algarve, in Évora and Porto.
Paulo Soares, son of the founders, revealed that the company “has projects” and guaranteed: «we will grow, to other points, but also grow in Albufeira».
José Carlos Rolo, president of the municipality, congratulated the company for thinking about its growth from Albufeira.
«This company is everywhere, it continues to expand, but without leaving Albufeira and this should be an example for everyone. We are all Tourism».
The mayor began his speech with a call to attention to the problem of drought in the region and appealed to everyone
collaborate. He informed that a set of measures will soon be taken for this purpose and that, as an example, the Municipality has already replaced the grass on the central road axis of Avenida dos Descobrimentos with plants that do not require a lot of water to survive.
Congratulating all the recognized companies, José Carlos Rolo said he wanted to «bring more development, more growth to Albufeira, as we are a very strong presence in this sector at a national level, with significant revenues and contributions to the State Budget».
The mayor also reinforced the need to create a Ministry of Tourism to oversee the sector.
Cristiano Cabrita also stressed, as responsible for the Entrepreneurship department, that «the economic and financial performance of recognized companies is an example of what we want in our municipality, companies that grow in Albufeira and for Albufeira».
Present at this ceremony were also representatives from IAPMEI and Turismo de Portugal.
«We are witnessing a countercycle in Albufeira, that is, while in the rest of the country the Tourism sector is at the bottom of the list, here, it is in first place», said Vera Gomez.
The person responsible also recalled that this recognition translates into important information for the purposes of internationalization of companies, in addition to guaranteeing a set of benefits in the scope of financial products, with special conditions.
On the other hand, Elisabete Félix emphasized the need to continue investing in innovation.
«Despite the good results, the challenges continue and include a commitment to innovation and differentiation, in addition to a commitment to economic, social and environmental sustainability», he concluded.
Comments