SME Heroes Awards honour the best of Portuguese business at the 8th edition

The gala of the 8th edition of the SME Heroes Awards took place on 26 June, in Leiria, and rewarded five Portuguese companies for their ability to overcome challenges, grow and innovate. There were 372 entries this year.

On 26 June, the Mercado de Sant'Ana, in Leiria, filled up with business owners, partners, sponsors and public bodies for the gala of the 8th edition of the SME Heroes Awards, the Yunit Consulting initiative that recognises Portuguese companies for their ability to overcome challenges, their resilience, growth and innovation. The 372 entries in this edition are a clear sign of the vitality and diversity of the country's business community.

The ceremony handed out awards across five categories and was attended by Gonçalo Lopes, Mayor of Leiria, and Gonçalo Regalado, CEO of Banco Português de Fomento, in a moment that strengthened the link between valuing SMEs, decentralisation and the instruments that support investment and growth.

The winners of the 8th edition

The evening rewarded five categories, with companies that show just how broad the work being done in Portugal is, from the food industry to ocean technology, from sustainable tourism to climate simulation engineering:

• Micro Company, Quintinha d'Aldeia: a project that revived an abandoned property and turned it into a cured meats production unit, preserving family roots and Portuguese culinary tradition.
• Small Company, DHXM Indústria do Doce: convent and traditional confectionery born after the pandemic, in a context marked by the founders' unemployment, who turned adversity into value creation.
• Medium Company, Aralab: specialists in developing climate simulation machines, proof of Portuguese engineering's ability to compete in technically demanding fields.
• Sustainability, WOTELS: a Portuguese sustainable tourism brand, with a model built around environmental responsibility and efficiency.
• Startup, blueOASIS: ocean technology and innovative solutions in a strategic sector for the country's blue economy.

The selection was made by an independent jury made up of representatives from partner organisations, sponsors and figures from the business ecosystem.

Jelly's role: round table and award presentation

Jelly was a sponsor and the official agency of the 8th edition of the SME Heroes Awards, responsible for giving shape and voice to an initiative that shares a simple conviction with us: SMEs are the real engine of the Portuguese economy, and they deserve to be talked about with the ambition they have. More than signing off the communications, we were on stage at two of the evening's high points.

The first was the round table, moderated by Pedro Santos Guerreiro, journalist and economist at CNN Portugal, in which Gonçalo Malho Rodrigues, Founder & CEO of Jelly, discussed the role of SMEs in the economy alongside Gonçalo Regalado, CEO of Banco Português de Fomento, and Mário Rodrigues, board member at EST, winner of the 7th edition of the Awards.

The tone was set by Gonçalo Regalado, who underlined the weight of SMEs in the national economy: over the last 18 months, 99% of the companies supported by Banco Português de Fomento were small and medium-sized enterprises, “the heart and the muscle of the Portuguese economy”, arguing for the need to keep supporting those who take risks and to make life simpler for those who make Portugal grow.

From there, Gonçalo Malho Rodrigues stressed how important it is for business owners to lose their fear of opening up their capital, which brings greater capacity to grow and expand into other markets. In Portugal's case specifically, he also argued for the urgency of removing friction: the State must let companies get on with it, quickly and without obstacles.

He also left an idea he considers central to the work of a digital agency serving brands: cut the noise and amplify what the brand does well in the real market. Digital is built on the ground, in the concrete things a company does, in the product, the service, the support, and only then is it carried across to digital channels. Digital isn't solved in digital. It's solved in what the brand delivers every day.

“Portuguese business owners need to lose their fear of opening up their capital. Whoever shares the risk builds the muscle to grow and to reach other markets. And, in Portugal, there's a second point that is decisive: removing friction. The State has to let companies get on with it, quickly and without obstacles. Then there's our role. The job of a digital agency is to cut the noise and amplify what the brand does well in the real market. Digital is built on the ground, in the product, the service, the support, and only then is it carried across to digital.”, argued Gonçalo Malho Rodrigues, Founder and CEO of Jelly.

The second moment was the presentation of the micro company award. Paired with Ken, from ActionCOACH, Gonçalo Malho Rodrigues took to the stage to announce the winner of the category, Quintinha d'Aldeia, one of the most beautiful stories of the night and a reminder that tradition and entrepreneurial spirit are not separate things.

Far more than a sponsorship

Leading the communications for the SME Heroes, and being able to be on stage debating and handing out awards too, is the kind of involvement that means a lot to us. It isn't just about visibility. It's about being in the place where the stories of Portuguese SMEs are told and celebrated. It's what we do every day with our clients: deliver agency quality, with the ambition of those who take a brand further.

Congratulations to all the winners and finalists of the 8th edition. And thank you to Yunit Consulting for their trust. See you at the next edition.

Jelly is a digital marketing and Artificial Intelligence agency. Want to talk to us about brand, performance or AI applied to your business? Book a conversation.