António Casanova – the man with a passion for marketing
Companies manager António Casanova has been behind the successful business strategies of companies such as Unilever FIMA and Gallo in Portugal. What many people don’t know is his tireless support for charitable foundations and organisations as Chris Graeme discovered at the most recent Portugal Leaders – Stories that Matter dinner-debate organised by the American Club of Lisbon at the prestigious Grémio Literário club on October 9.
Text: Chris Graeme Photos: Joaquim Morgado
António Casanova is an example of an exceptional Portuguese who has had an outstanding career in Portugal leading two of the most important multinationals operating in the country – Unilever FIMA Lda-Jerónimo Martins and Galo Worldwide (LDA).
An economist by university education, he has enjoyed a wide career in consulting, telecoms, real estate, and consumer goods, as well as having a pivotal group in charities such as Make-a-Wish Portugal and educational projects in Mozambique like Girl MOVE Academy.
But how did a man who initially had no background in a company selling household consumer goods end up leading one?
A case of Serendipity
António calls it “serendipity”. “I was never supposed to end up in consumer goods”. “When I left the London School of Economics (LSE), I was 20 and I had no intention of going immediately to work. The only way of avoiding that was to continue studying”, he recalls.
He decided to do a Master degree. However, no university would take him without some work experience, and on writing to most companies he got a flat rejection.
Having a sudden urge to study European Studies in Florence, which was run on alternate years, he had missed the boat for that year.
However, he did managed to get on an MBA at Nova University, at the time sponsored by Wharton Business School, University in Philadelphia.
Faced with compulsory military service, he knew most companies would not hire him until he had completed this. “I thought it was a good idea”, he admits.
His father, however, did not, and since Unilever was one of the few companies that would take graduates on without having done military service, he applied, got the job, and started on consumer goods.
A marketing wizzKid
“I was initially meant to follow in my father’s and uncle’s footsteps and become a banker and do an internship in the UK and US but started at Unilever instead”, António remembers.
António did go on to do his military service which he enjoyed immensely, returned and rejoined Unilever.
“I liked Unilever, it was fun, but I realised I only knew one industry – retail goods – and only knew about marketing”.
At that time in 1985 the consultancy firm McKinsey was starting in Portugal and António quit Unilever and joined McKinsey where he stayed for two years.
It was also the time when the banks were privatised in Portugal after being nationalised after the April 25 Revolution of 1974.
The first bank to be privatised was Fonseca & Burnay which was bought by the Banco Português de Investimento (BPI), then called SPI – Sociedade Portuguesa de Investimentos.
“I was 28 and invited to become the bank’s marketing director at the top level (Level 18) and my father was completely delighted and impressed because it had taken him until 35 to reach that level”, he remembers.
António admits it turned out to be a fiasco, the banks did little innovative and exciting marketing, and António remarks that marketing was then “undervalued and had no importance in terms of the bank’s strategy”.
Realising that banking was not for him, António went back to Unilever as Deputy Managing Director and Sales and Marketing Director in its various companies.
With an ambition to be Managing Director – and at that time you had to work for the company overseas – the company said they needed him in Portugal and insisted he stay.
Turning to telecoms
António turned to the new telecoms sector in Portugal (Dominated at the time by TMN, Vodafone), where a new consortium of EDP, Sonae and France Telecom known as Optimus was forming, that he joined. “I enjoyed it immensely and went on to become CEO for five years” he recalls.
“After five years with Optimus António was offered the CEO position at Unilever for Portugal, and later Spain and at olive oil company Gallo.
“Gallo is an interesting company, although olive oil is a terrible business with an EBITDA of only 3-5%. We are the biggest exporter to Brazil (€200 million) and have a company there employing 70. It is an interesting business but a tough one since the margins are very low,” he admits.
“At the end of the day I ended up in consumer goods, because of all the things I’ve done, it was the one I liked the most; it’s the one area I’m best at”, he says frankly.
UnileverFIMA – a successful joint venture
As CEO of Unilever FIMA, António finds himself in the unique position of working for a company that is a joint-venture between the large Unilever group worldwide and a local family Soares dos Santos, that own the food supermarket retail group, Jerónimo Martins.
Even before 1949, Jerónimo Martins had already marketed several Unilever products in Portugal.
In August 1949, that commercial relationship became a partnership that remains an example of a commercial cooperation to this day, even after Jerónimo Martins sold its stake in the current Unilever FIMA to its majority shareholder – the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Company – in 2016.
And the partnership has been highly successful, lasting for several decades. In the past, multinationals could not operate in Portugal without a local partner as a shareholder. The Soares dos Santos family at that time was the importer of Unilever products and the joint venture started.
In the 1990s, the family, which by this time had become a minority shareholder, decided to merge the companies together and divide the shareholding where Unilever held 55% and the local partner held 45%.
António Casanova is passionate about education and media, as well as being involved in several charitable organisations.
Girl MOVE and Make-a-Wish
One of his endeavours that he is involved in is the Girl MOVE Academy which runs education programmes for young girls in Mozambique. He is also the President of the Make- a-Wish movement which makes dreams come true for seriously sick and terminally ill children.
“I was invited by good friends to get involved in these charities and I did. The Dean of Católica has this idea that he wanted to help in Africa with an idea that girls and women can be the source of development in Africa when achieved through education”, he explained.
Girls, he says, are typically taken away from educational opportunities in countries like Mozambique at a very early age and prepared for marriage and motherhood very early on. (53% of girls in Mozambique marry or enter a union before age 18 and 17% marry before age 15. 10% of boys in Mozambique marry before the age of 18)
“The idea is that if you can educate girls and young women for a longer period, this would have a very positive impact on society,” Antonio went on to explain.
The academy promotes women’s education and leadership through an intergenerational circular mentoring model recently recognised by UNESCO as the best educational programme for girls and women in Africa.
Girl MOVE runs a number of programmes – the CHANGE Programme, SHINE Programme and BELIEVE Programme, more about which can be consulted on the Girl MOVE site.
Make-a-Wish is a non-for-profit foundation whose mission is to realise children’s and young people’s wishes from the age of 3-17 in Portugal with serious, progressive, degenerative and malignant diseases.
Since 2007, more than 2000 wishes have been granted in Portugal. There are, on average, about 200 wishes awaiting fulfillment.
In Portugal, the history of the Make-A-Wish Foundation (Fundação Realizar Um Desejo) began in 2007, after being set up by notarial deed on April 17, 2007.
Two months after its incorporation, it was recognised by Make A Wish® International, operating its activities under the Make A Wish® Portugal brand.
Since then, and based in Lisbon, Make-A-Wish’s activities cover the whole of Portugal and has about 300 volunteers who contribute daily to its mission from north to south and the islands.
“What we do with the children and carers is come up with a wish, something that they really want, and by keeping that wish alive and fulfilling it, hope and and positive moments are brought to otherwise dark and difficult periods in the lives of these children and young people,” concluded António Casanova.