Registrations are open for the IX edition of the Montepio Acredita Portugal Entrepreneurship Contest. Promoted by Acredita Portugal and Caixa Económica Montepio Geral (CEMG), this is Portugal's largest entrepreneurship competition and the second largest in the world, and aims to identify, develop and reward ideas and projects from different sectors, such as entrepreneurship social, mobility and technology, accepting ideas from any area. In the last edition were more than 11 thousand business ideas.
The initiative aims to support anyone with a business idea, regardless of age, level of training and location in the national territory, supporting promising projects with specialized know-how for their development and evaluation. The best projects have direct contact with investors, experts and mentors, as well as access to personalized training and the opportunity to integrate a pre-acceleration program.
Entries can be submitted online, free of charge, until January 20th, 2019 through the website acreditaportugal.pt. The selection process begins by analyzing the market and the business model of the hundreds of ideas for the contest, then the candidates go through successive stages of development, analysis of the marketing plan and financial plan until the presentation of the project in pitch format, where the winners of each category are elected.
According to Fernando Amaro, CEMG's Director of Social Economy and Public Sector, "Montepio Acredita Portugal is an excellent vehicle to boost impact entrepreneurship. There are more and more people looking for and finding in entrepreneurship a way to develop solutions for society".
An idea shared by Fernando Fraga, Innovation Director of Acredita Portugal: "The candidates with whom we contact are more informed, have a different vision of opportunities and are also more demanding in their search for platforms to boost their business idea. Acredita Portugal has gathered from reference partners to provide a support and acceleration network that facilitates the go-to-market process of entrepreneurs and people with transformative ideas and potential impact.
Additional information available at www.acreditaportugal.pt
