The prestigious initiative, the visibility of the award in the Portuguese market and the award itself, were some of the reasons that influenced Manuel Leite to apply for the Primus Inter Pares Award. The Técnico alumnus is one of the 5 finalists titled to win an MBA.
The 17th Primus Inter Pares Award will be marked by the unforeseen events resulting from the pandemic, and therefore, unlike previous editions, it covers two years: 2019 and 2020. The first phase of the competition – which consists of written cognitive tests, logical reasoning and some more introspective questions – took place in 2019, but was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and restarted this year with some changes. The in-person tests have been turned into homework, followed by group dynamics.
Meanwhile, Manuel Leite graduated and entered the job market last February. He works at Hyperion Renewables, a company that develops and invests on Renewable Energy projects, and also provides services such as asset management.
The Técnico alumnus didn’t have high expectations about the possibility of reaching the finals. Now, he is quite happy and shares with us “the diversity of training and opinions among finalists contributed a lot to the quality of challenges, so I didn’t imagine to reach the finals. Fortunately, they believed in me”.
“It was a very enriching experience and added value to my resume. I met many people from very different backgrounds who also have the ambition to grow professionally and to make a positive impact at work”, he stresses.
The interest in Management and the desire to solidify skills
Although his interests are vast, Manuel Leite’ s has a particular interest in Management, Science and Mathematics. “However, I think it is fundamental for an engineer to have the soft skills provided by Management because not everything in business life is related to more technical areas”, he stresses. “Even working in this area, an engineer must have the capacity to lead and know how to interpret those around him, in order to motivate and improve everyone’s capacities and the existing potential, thus creating added value”, he adds.
A few years ago, Manuel Leite realised that an MBA could represent “a great asset in an engineer’s career”. “It would be exactly the type of training that would allow me to gain the skills necessary to achieve certain goals in my professional and personal growth”, he highlights.
According to the Técnico alumnus, the fact that he had attended the German school of Lisbon, as well as the Erasmus and professional experiences in Germany, may have positively contributed for his good results in the competition.
The award finalist highlights his personal traits: “calmness, stability and determination”.
Discovering the leaders of the future
Last week, the Primus Inter Pares Award competition reached the final stage. The 5 finalists met with a jury composed of the chairman of the board of directors of the Impresa group, Francisco Pinto Balsemão, the executive president of Santander Portugal, Pedro Castro e Almeida, the senior international advisor at Roland Berger, Estela Barbot, the former Minister for Regional Development and university professor, Miguel Poiares Maduro, and the administrator of Sogrape, Raquel Seabra.
Joining the Técnico alumnus in the final competition: Álvaro Samagaio, António Ventosa, Bernardo Falcão, Catarina Ferreira. The three best classified will have the opportunity to do an MBA- the costs of enrollment and tuition are supported by the Award. The 1st and 2nd classified have, in that order, the right of preference among the available courses at IE Business School, in Madrid, or Católica Lisbon, Nova SBE or ISEG, in Lisbon.
The Primus Inter Pares Award began in the 2003/2004 academic years and has received around 1500 applications since then. 85 students has been awarded with MBA’s, Postgraduate Studies and other Awards.
