REN makes university students Leaders for a Day

On 13 November REN is promoting Leaders for a Day, an initiative bringing together Junior Achievement alumni with some of Portugal’s leading businesspeople for a day of work.

A total of 15 young university students will take part in this event and will become business leaders for the day. The goal is to inspire students in their academic and professional careers and to help them develop skills that will ease the transition from education to the world of business.

By focusing on bringing these two realities closer together, Leaders for a Day seeks to highlight the link between education and successful careers, by introducing young people to the needs of the job market, by encouraging professionals to mentor young entrepreneurs by sharing with them their time and experience and to inspire and contribute towards the creation of shared responsibilities across all sectors, to develop an adaptable and qualified workforce that contributes actively to a dynamic and competitive economy.

Leaders for a Day is organised by Junior Achievement Portugal in partnership with the United States Embassy and with the support of the ManpowerGroup Portugal. Those who have confirmed they will be at the event on 13 November include REN’s director of communications; Robert Sherman, US Ambassador; António Casanova, CEO of Unilever; João Vieira de Almeida, a partner at VdA; Rogério Campos Henriques, CIO at Fidelidade; Nuno Gameiro, ManpowerGroup Country Manager; Sofia Tenreiro, Cisco Country Manager; Pedro Fino, Pestana Group CFO; Pedro Penalva, CEO of AON; Luís Aguiar, Citi Country Manager; Diogo Alarcão, partner at Mercer; José Correia, General Manager of HP Inc.; Daniel Traça, dean of Nova SBE; Francisco Veloso, dean of Católica Lisbon SBE; Dália Turner, from Microsoft Human Resources; Mariana Canto e Castro, in-house lawyer at Randstad; and Nuno Lacasta, chairman of the Portuguese Environment Agency; and others.

The event culminates in the US Embassy at 5.30pm with a closing ceremony for all participating students and business leaders.

Erica Nascimento, CEO of Junior Achievement Portugal, says: “This event will strengthen the link between universities and the world of work during a day that will be unique for these young alumni of JA Portugal. “Our partners recognise it is essential to provide our students, from an early age, leadership, teamworking, communications and risk management skills, to enable them to become active citizens who are better prepared, better qualified and more aware of the steps they need to take for a successful future.”

About JA Portugal:

Junior Achievement is a non-profit organisation that promotes entrepreneurship, risk taking, creativity and innovation in the next generation. The organisation is celebrating its 10th anniversary in Portugal, during which time its programmes have helped more than 200,000 students.