by Rui Almeida and Filomena Ramilo [email protected]
Rui Almeida is CEO of Moneris Group and Filomena Ramilo is Senior Manager. Moneris Group has offices in Almancil and Albufeira.
One of the very first tax seminars in English in the Algarve was held by Filomena Ramilo in Vilamoura, back in 1990.
It centred on the Portuguese fiscal system and it seemed that almost all the foreigners living in the Algarve showed up!
A huge conference room was filled with business people, full of optimism, with the hope of trying to understand the legal and fiscal maze of this country. It was exhilarating!
Twenty-two years later, Filomena’s English has greatly improved and she is now playing a major role in the successful Moneris Group, Portugal’s biggest accounting firm.
Together with Rui Almeida (CEO of the Moneris Group), she will be presenting their first tax seminar for 2012 at the Sheraton Pine Cliffs in Albufeira on the morning of January 27.
In our view, what has changed is the mood of the business community: some have gone back to their own country, some are still thriving and some spend their whole time talking about the crisis… What kind of word is that? Why is it on everyone’s lips? Is it a fashion label?
And perhaps people attending the seminar will seem to be afraid of committing themselves to running a successful business because of the insecurity of knowing the ever-changing rules and regulations.
If one talks to me about the end of an economic cycle, with a baffling financial warfare as an extra confounding factor, I understand.
For the simple reason that in economic warfare, excellence is essential. What does excellence mean? And how can one become excellent?
Not easy, otherwise we would not be in the current global mess. But what is needed is a deep conviction that necessity creates many opportunities, and that serious necessity sharpens serious ingeniousness and activates the mind, especially when money is scarce.
Traditionally, keeping a clear mind instead of panicking will heighten your ability to recognise and take advantage of great opportunities to make your business grow.
People should pause to look, restructure, study ways to improve service, find new attractive products, take a chance on being different, and basically increase creativity.
Tomorrow morning, go into your office with optimism in your mind rather than gloom and doom. If we all start spending money again, even a little, it will be like oil for the wheels of the economy.
The seminar will be designed to allay fears and provide participants with the knowledge required to run a successful business in Portugal.
Have confidence in yourself, in your business acumen, and have hope in the future because it is in fact fear that is now paralysing the economy.
Moreover, the property market is a crucial sector, the engine that needs to move again to reactivate the market.
Recovery will start eventually, and one day you may look back on this tumultuous period and regret not having seized any of the many opportunities open to you.
Moneris is a group that concentrates some of the most experienced and knowledgeable consultants on accounting and tax advisory.
We aim to excel on all levels of service offerings and we hope to bring to you some of our insights and thus help all foreign investors to overcome these times of turbulence and look ahead for a promising outlook.
This is the level of commitment and knowledge that we will aim to bring to our seminar and this motto which guides our day-to-day relationship with our clients, entrepreneurs and business men and women.
The authors can be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected]
