Team
We have built a team of experienced consulting, management, advisory and investment professionals.
The strength and depth of our team allows us to pursue advisory and investments challenges, always with the objective of MAGNIFYING investment opportunities.
António Vieira da Silva
Founder and Managing Partner
António is founder and managing partner of Business Setting and of Magnify. During the past 18 years, he has worked as an International Consultant in Business Development and/or Turnaround projects, in more than 30 countries. He is also an invited associate professor at the IJL – Business School.
With +30 years experience, he has carried out the following functions among others: Advisor to the Chairman of the BoD and Executive Committee of Galp Energia; Business Turnaround Manager, Royal Dutch / Shell Group, based in The Hague; Member of the Board of Directors of Shell Portugal and Iberia; and has been member of the BoD of several companies.
João Barata
Partner – Business Development
Graduated in Economics, João developed his career mainly in the financial sector. At Millennium BCP he spent 5 years divided between Audit and Corporate Banking. Subsequently, and already in ABN AMRO, João was Corporate Director for 4 years and Private Banking (Geneve) for 6 years.
After 2004, he was a director of Valor Alternativo, managing director of Hedge Funds, managing director of Golden Hill AG, a management company in Zurich for 4 years and later working for the managers of Lynx Asset Managers.
Currently, João is Partner at Magnify, with responsibility in the areas of Real Estate Investments and Wealth Management.
Pedro Ortigão Correia
Managing Partner
Former Board Member of a specialist Asian bank based out of Lisbon and currently working as independent investment banking advisor. With a major in Economics from Universidade Nova de Lisboa, he joined Merrill Lynch in London in 1998, working as an analyst in different functions, until becoming Director on the asset management side and responsible for the Portuguese coverage.
In 2005, he joined Fidelity as a Director, responsible for opening up the Portuguese office. Later in 2009, started an independent consultancy firm, working with Robeco, Credit Agricole and Dimensional before becoming Managing Partner of ASK, a multi family office with offices in Lisbon, Sao Paulo, Luanda and Macao. He then became Vice President of AICEP, the Portuguese trade and investment government agency, reporting directly to the Vice Prime Minister.
Joaquim Chambel
Partner – Real Estate
Agro-engineer with an MBA from UNL, Joaquim has spent more than 30 years in the real estate sector in managerial and advisory roles of local and international entities.
As a board member of RAR Group and as General Manager of Colliers Portugal and Angola, Joaquim had direct management responsibility in the development of Real Estate projects totalling more than 150.000 square meters.
Joaquim was also involved in the management of COMERCIAL IMOBILIÁRIA, SGII, SA, a participated company of Millennium bcp.
As a consultant, Joaquim played a relevant role in supporting EY and Portugal Central Bank in reviewing the mortgage credit portfolio of financial institutions during the 2011-2015 financial rescue period.
Also, as a consultant, Joaquim has provided specialised support in the leasing negotiations for international entities operating in Portugal, namely SAP, MICROSOFT and CONOCO PHILIPS.
Joaquim was recently appointed Executive Director of Magnify, with the objective of supporting this company in the transition from SCR to SGOIC.
Sérgio Afonso
Partner International Markets
Sérgio’s previous role is very complementary as he has a strong foothold in Treasury, Trading & Asset Management. Sérgio has worked with many key institutions previously like Santander Investment, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and Group Espirito Santo and split his professional life between Portugal, UK, Spain, Brazil and Angola.
Whilst his time at Banco Espirito Santo, SA, Lisbon, his primary focus was reorganizing the UHNW business for the bank in Africa. Since 2014, Sérgio has been member of several Investment Companies, such as AMP Investments, Miragon Invesments UK and Floresta Atlântica SGOIC.
He has a Business Administration and an AMP from IESE Barcelona.
Jean-Claude Bergadaa
Senior Advisor
A career Corporate Banker, with track record in all kinds of corporate loans and services : Structured Finance, Leverage and Acquisition Finance, Project Finance, Real Estate Finance, Commodities Finance, M&A, IPOs, Private Placements, as well as Bad Debt Recovery and Bankruptcy Prevention. With BNP Paribas and Banque Indosuez.
All this in overseas assignments: New-York, London, Stockholm, Singapore and Hong-Kong.
Retired from BNP Paribas in December 2015, still a member of the Board of BNP Paribas (China) Ltd. Investor in, and Advisor to start ups.
Since 2018 is a Senior Advisor to Magnify
Luis Magalhães Vasconcelos
Luís Vasconcelos has a degree in Political Economy and International Studies from Warwick University and has developed all his career in the financial sector (Banco Pinto & Sotto Mayor, Crédit Lyonnais, Banco Comercial Português and Banco Espírito Santo).
At Banco Espírito Santo, was responsible for the Emigration segment for the regions of Europe, North and South America.
More recently, has held top management and advisory roles for several investment and funds’ management companies, namely Axia Venture Group, IMOPOLIS, Fund Box and MAGNIFY Partners.
Jonathon K. Gowen
Managing Partner
Jonathon has extensive experience in serving the needs of global entrepreneurs through a bespoke combination of private bank and investment banking services. Former Senior Partner responsible for asset origination and relationship management two Multi-Family Offices with offices in London, Geneva, Zurich and Prague. Key advisor to family business owners internationally and on multi-generational governance issues.
Jonathon started his career in London in 1999 with JPMorgan Chase at their Private Bank, servicing Ultra High Net Worth individuals from Western Europe. In early 2007, he joined Barclays Wealth in their International Division where he swiftly became one of their youngest Director Bankers and top producers covering Russian, CIS and EE regions in addition to the Developed Markets.
Jonathon is a dual UK and French citizen who graduated from the Rouen Graduate School of Management, France and from Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan.