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The idea behind Nutrally is to make sweets that are as nutritional as possible. Its founders, Filipa Rocha and Silvino Henriques, fulfilled their dream when the raised 5,000€ through the crowdfunding system, together with private investment. Since January, they have been selling sweets which contain no sugar or animal gelatine but do contain natural antioxidants, colorants and vitamins. There are ten outlets for their products – in Faro, Braga, Aveiro, Matosinhos, Gaia, Valongo, Funchal, Guimarães, Gondomar and Bragança – but Filipa and Silvino are aiming to increase this number and are currently negotiating with retail chains. In the short term …

“0% animal, 100% organic, 0% GM* and 100% vegetable” – this is the motto of Naturalmente, a new company producing home-made pies and bread. Ana Brazuna, with a degree in nutrition sciences, is the only person in the company, which currently produces for 11 different shops in the Lisbon area. She focuses on producing gluten-free bread based on whole-grain rice, which can contain apple, pumpkin or miso, and pies with seaweed and vegetables, tofu, seitan and tempeh. She says that she decided to “take a risk in a market where there are few products but increasing demand”. And although she …

FF Solar Lda. from Aljezur, which has been based in southwest Portugal since 1989, has won the Energy Globe National Award 2013 for its product Home Kit Solution For African Countries (Angola). The annual prize is awarded to initiatives and projects in 160 countries which devote their efforts to energy efficiency, renewable energies and resource conservation. Every prize-winning project sends a message of hope and inspiration out into the world and points the way towards a sustainable future, says Maneka Gandhi, the Indian chair of the environmental initiative. The FF Solar Lda. kit, which is supplied to Angola among other …

Portugal is a country of customs, many of them healthy and nice, but it seems increasingly distant from itself. The country is abandoning a number of traditions to the realms of memory, and it is gradually being occupied by new habits which are based purely on consumption. But there is one shop filled with traditional Portuguese products which is still resisting such change: A Vida Portuguesa. The result of research into old Portuguese products by the journalist Catarina Portas, in 2004 the brand Uma Casa Portuguesa appeared, but it only sold hampers. They opened their first shop in 2007 named …

Specialist in the economics of happiness 33-year-old Gabriel Leite Mota is the first Portuguese person to hold a doctorate in the Economics of Happiness. The title was awarded to him in 2010 by the Faculty of Economics of Porto (FEP), the institution where got his first degree in 2002. He teaches Economics, Politics and Happiness at ISPA – the Higher Institute of Social and Political Sciences and he’s a researcher at the Applied Microeconomics Research Centre of the University of Minho. He is also a columnist and commentator. His research interests range from the economics of well-being to behavioural and …

from Dr. Eusébio Conceição Every year, a kindergarten in Olhão used to be ravaged by flu and colds. Today, the children are healthier and do their activities in airier rooms with improved air quality. It doesn’t involve any magic, improvisation or divine intervention; but is rather the fruit of a scientific study and the application of such simple measures as strategically opening some windows and, in the future, planting trees and constructing strategically located shade structures.

Imagine free public transport. Would you leave your car at home? For many years, public transport in Lisbon and Porto has been both declining and running at a loss. The system is being used to only just over 22% of capacity. In contrast, private use of cars has risen fivefold in the past 12 years. Serious problems are the result: endless traffic jams, a shortfall of at least 18,000 parking spaces in Lisbon, more than three times the number of road traffic accidents and a huge burden of noise and exhaust fumes on local residents. The idea of free transport …

Rcicla was the first shop in Portugal devoted to building and repairing customised bicycles by recycling material from other bicycles. Now it is also the first to build a bike entirely out of parts from a disused car, everything from the bodywork to the upholstery. The challenge was set by the Leo Burnett advertising agency, which produced a promotional video of the “Karma Project” (1). The aim is to submit a moribund vehicle to karmic purification, and to demonstrate that, apart from being a sustainable and enjoyable means of transport, a bike doesn’t have to be expensive and can be …

“Since the start of the Garbags project in 2009, we have collected 28,456 coffee packets, 21,450 milk and juice packets, 1,180 shampoo bottles and toothpaste tubes, 1,265 coffee capsules and 2,350 assorted used packages, stopping them going to land-fill,” said Tânia Sofia Moreira Anselma, the manager of Garbags. This is the equivalent of transporting all the furniture from a three-bedroom apartment. Garbags inspires people to think about their daily waste and to regard it in a different way. Garbags recycles waste, transforming it into nice fashion accessories that are durable, tough, practical, fun and make people dream. It is collected …

Getting international business, innovating and creating sustainable value. Cova da Beira was on show in the Arab world in November and got everyone talking. The olive oil with its flakes of gold, rose-flavoured jelly, wine, cured meats, cheeses, jams and the famous cherries whet people’s appetites in the food market in Abu Dhabi and awoke the locals’ curiosity. To such an extent that the region welcomed a group of investors from Qatar in February who are interested in acquiring businesses for the exclusive production of certain products. “Participating in international fairs in selected markets is part of the strategy of …