The great challenge is precisely being able to construct a new story which, without forgetting the distinct origins of each of the groups that gave rise to it, is able to overcome those same differences and to go beyond them. The four groups were very different, both in terms of their origin, as well as in terms of their business models and this marks the culture of each of one of them. And without crushing that which is the memory and tradition of each, we want to affirm a new reality. The greatest asset this new group has is precisely the tradition of the four groups giving rise to it because it is that tradition that gives us the portfolio of completed works, which gives us the technical curriculum of the employees. The new group would be nothing if it did not absorb into itself that tradition. And why did we decide to create a new flag instead of maintaining each of the other flags? Because we would always lose one of the most important dimensions that is made available to us through this process, which is to gain in critical mass, in clout, in size. In approaching new markets that would be limiting. 

The first pillar of the new group is precisely to assume that it is an international group wishing that one day, more than being international, it is multinational and does not obey the traditional logic of a Portuguese Group that has internationalised.  This is not just a mere game of words. It is to understand that from the organisational point of view our group will not be the sum of branches, but will be a group composed of companies operating in distinct markets and with a team, a central nucleus that assumes corporate functions, transversally managing the resources, but that will represent a mere point of reference as head of the group and not an autonomous business area in itself. This is a huge change vis-à-vis the paradigm under which the four groups functioned.  

The second pillar is that despite being larger, we have limitations in terms of human, technical and financial resources. Consequently, without losing sight of our ambitions, we must be able to enter more and more into new markets. We must be selective and choose those markets which, in a more effective manner, will enable us to be successful in this internationalisation process. Geographically, we will privilege the African continent as a whole, taking advantage of the experience all these companies have of working in the Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP) and of the experience some of them have in the non-PALOP African countries. Hence, in addition to sub-Saharan Africa, we have not lost sight of the market of North Africa.  A second geographical pillar takes us to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, to Latin America. This is a project taking its first steps, but which should constitute a privileged space for the development of international businesses.  Using the figure of a tripod, we have a foot in Africa, another in Latin America with the third leg being freer to seek other geographies, such as the Middle East or other areas still outside the range of our business radar. 

No, that is a clear commitment we have to make. Obviously the Portuguese-speaking area is a privileged area for our development, but it would constitute a strong limitation if we self-conditioned ourselves to remain within those markets. It is clear, too, that from an internal organization perspective this also requires a different logic in terms of preparation required at the level of the capacities and the competencies all our employees (permanent or not) must have. 

We are well balanced, that is, today we are able to cover just about all the construction activity segments with our own resources, human and technical. We are especially well-balanced between two large segments, the construction of buildings and the area of infrastructures and public works. We have a strong presence in some important areas such as in work in geotechnics, special foundations, subterranean construction, we have strong competencies in works related to environmental infrastructures and we also have a strong background competency in the industrial carpentry or light metal-mechanical areas, but highly specialised.  All this arms us with great flexibility, allowing us to adjust our approach to new markets depending on whether a specific market is more or less attractive in a specific area. 

Within the logic in which we aim to affirm ourselves, it is fundamental. We have to structure ourselves more and more to, in the form of a company or a branch, create structures that, without being redundant with the corporate functions being carried out at the headquarters, assure a high degree of local autonomy. For two types of reasons. On the one hand, because we have to create units that are self-sufficient and self-sustaining and that are able, with their own revenue, to support the functions and activities that they need to have to operate in that market. On the other hand, because that proximity and that knowledge of the local reality are, from our point of view, decisive to achieve success. The mere presence with a structure, an office or a permanent team transmits to the market more signs of confidence and of commitment than those conveyed by a company that sporadically arrives with a team to execute a project or to undertake a commercial incursion.  

In our model, partnerships are, from the outset, arrangements that can contribute to the acceleration of the entrance process into a market. Furthermore, they should be a sign of the continuity of our presence in that market. Each country is a specific case and today we have markets where the existence of partnerships is, from the outset, a "sine qua non” condition to operate or to enter such market and we have markets where the fact that local businesses are so fledgling may make the 100% own operating model more viable. But our experience tells us that everything is a question of stages or cycles. So, we privilege from the very first moment the search for those partners and partnerships, investing in an anticipatory move, in that manner making our permanence easier and our evolution more tranquil, with less cyclical changes in the future, changes which will inevitably occur in those countries. 

Typically we seek two things, although we don’t always find them. One is knowledge of the local reality, which does not necessarily mean "lobbying”. Obviously the "lobbying” capacity is important, but it is not fundamental.  What is fundamental is someone that helps us to understand how institutions function, the culture of the country, the background and labour framework of the employees themselves and the relationships with the stakeholders existing in the market. The second aspect, which is not as easy to find, and which depends in every case on the market, is that it is someone from the industry itself or that, at least, has the ability to assist us with the logistical aspects, since when we enter a new market we do not take all our logistics with us, only key equipment. Ultimately, we want to find someone with whom it will be possible to build a relationship of understanding and of empathy based on the recognition of the part each of the parties expects from the other and that this is assumed in a very transparent and very clear manner. 

That will become one of the strongly entrenched areas in our organisational culture and in that of the persons comprising it. We want every team that is mobilised in countries with greater needs at the local population level to have sensibility at that level and, above all, we want ideas to grow from the bottom up. Because social responsibility or sustainability concerns cannot be decreed at the top, as a policy designed by a group, and then transformed into more or less imposed actions.  It is important that the group as a whole understands that this is a concern and is pivotal to our activity, but what is fundamental is that it grows from the bottom up, that it is born from the perception of the director of the works, the project, the people out in the field who actually understand what is really needed there. 

The four brands, each one in its area, earned their reputation and all their names are recognised in Portugal and some of them in other countries too. If we zoom forward a few years, what we would all like to see is the Elevo brand having attained a level of notoriety that is at least identical to that which these brands have already attained, but that it had managed to attain such notoriety in a broader range of countries than those we have already reached, because that will be "success”. And that from a small number of groups born and rooted in Portugal we will have built a group that is recognized throughout Africa, that is a reference in key-countries in Latin America and that is deemed a player whenever one talks of groups with the capacity and competency for various international projects.

On the other hand, we also want the group to be seen as a success story and as the affirmation of a new business reality, and that from that perspective it also entirely overcomes the image that is necessarily still attached to a group that was born as a means to recover companies through a survival movement in a sector that is crossing a very difficult moment in Portugal. We trust that in a few years that will be a reality that merely forms part of the history of the group and that the present is one of a thriving, multinational group with strong capacities and competencies. That which we were able to affirm in Portugal over decades – competency, know-how and the capacity to execute from a Portuguese engineering and construction sector perspective – if correctly managed and structured, has all the conditions to be as successful in other parts of the globe.