The Técnico alumna and co-founder of Sensei, Joana Rafael, was one of the winners of the 2021 ACTIVA Women Inspiring Award, in the “Business” category. The award ceremony took place last Wednesday, March 30, at Palácio Foz, Lisbon.

The award was delivered by Madalena Duarte, product manager at Hidrolact. “This award is a source of inspiration for my team at Sensei and for all these fantastic women nominated for this award”, shared Joana Rafael. “This award gains even more importance once there are still so few women in tech”, she adds.

The 2021 award jury panel was composed of Conceição Zagalo, Luís Marques Mendes, Mafalda Anjos and Maria de Belém.

Joana is an entrepreneur and a cofounder of Sensei, a Portuguese startup that is redefining retail by removing all friction from stores and turning them autonomous and checkout free. She also serves as the Chief Operations Officer (COO) at Sensei.

In addition to Joana Rafael, the award winners were Raquel Seruca (Science), Lúcia Moniz (Arts), Patrícia Mamona (Sports), Margarida Cruz (Solidarity) and Margarida Couto (Sustainability). A Career Award was also given to Leonor Beleza.