An interview with Joao Ribeiro

Company: MERCAL, Gestao e Marketing Internacional
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Position: General Manager

Where did you learn the basics of running a business?
Immediately after finishing my university degree and after a "management training" in Edmar Group in Portugal, I was invited there to manage the Spanish subsidiary company for the local market. It was my first and very satisfying experience as I had to develop a professional project with high autonomy and responsibility out of my country and there I could attain personal and professional relationship with several people with whom I still share friendly links.

Whom did you work with before becoming a consultant?
I have worked for 13 years as CEO being responsible for the managing of MNE in my country and abroad. I very early started to assume responsibility in managing organisations and people. At the age of 23 I started as CEO at Edmar Española and three years later I was manager director of Pedisana / Thies (also in the shoe manufacturing business). As I was 29 years old I was CEO of PAOL, the holding of Tagol Group and three years later I became managing director of Revlon Portugal. I started my own project in 1996 settling down Mercal where I centralized my human, professional and financial resources setting an original consulting concept at the disposition of every Portuguese SME's with the aim of supporting them in their internalisation process. For that all my scientific knowledge and contacts acquired along the years as well as my professional experience abroad were capitalised being also supported by the university where I have been a teacher ever since.

What will you do in ten years?
I would like to develop the project Mercal more deeply trying to spread our consulting concept of business and service to every Iberian SME which aim competitiveness and internalisation.

What kind of people do you like to work with?
I like to work with interesting and creative people who allow a high degree of performance in the work they do. It is satisfying to hold an intercourse of experience and critical interchange that makes our function more motivating and enriching.

After working many years as a consultant you managed many projects. Are there really special ones among them?
At Mercal I worked in more than one hundred projects in Europe, Africa and South America. Some of them due to intercomplexity and multicultural contexts have brought a challenge and a highly rewarding experience in personal terms.

Why is your company a member of IMCN?
To be part of a network like IMCN brings complementarities and know-how contribution in specialised projects, businesses and foreign markets. Working in a network like IMCN gives us the opportunity to develop foreign partners in countries which constitute potential markets for us and our customers.

IMCN is a way to do that.