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U.Porto Memory

University of Porto Famous Alumni

Belmiro de Azevedo

Belmiro de Azevedo 1938-2017 Engineer and entrepreneur

Belmiro de Azevedo was born in Tuías, Marco de Canaveses, on 17th February 1938. He was the elder of 8 sons of Manuel de Azevedo, carpenter and farmer, and Adelina Ferreira Mendes, sewer. He received a harsh education from his father, and an example of diplomacy in interpersonal relationships from his mother, with whom he always had an affectionate relationship.

He had a bad start at primary school. He failed his first class, as he mentioned, because he had an incompetent teacher. However, thanks to his second teacher, Carlos da Silva, he recovered the lost time, and accomplished the four school years in just three. Since there was not a single secondary school in his hometown, Belmiro de Azevedo moved to Porto to study at the Alexandre Herculano secondary school.
He lived there with his uncle (and godfather) Belmiro Pinto da Mota, a public works inspector, who not only gave him his Christian name, but also provided him with accommodation at the construction sites where he worked (first at the D. Manuel hospital, and later at the Serra do Pilar laboratory).

He kept good childhood memories from those times, when he used to play in rua de Faria de Guimarães, and attend the S. João balls, in Rua do Paraíso, as well as the cafés in Marquês.
After secondary school, he entered the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, in 1956, and graduated in Chemical Engineering with a grade of 16 out of 20 - the second best grade in 1964. However, he had to interrupt his studies between 1959 and 1960 to perform compulsory military service. He sought to provide the same level of education to his brothers and sisters, who accomplished secondary school studies. At university, he played sports, mainly handball, at the university sports centre CDUP, and later at FCP (Futebol Clube do Porto).
He later specialised in Business Administration at Harvard University (USA), and in 1985 accomplished the "Finantial Mangement Programme" at Stanford University (USA).
Due to his humble origins, he had to work as a student from an early age. In the early 1960s, during his 6th course year, he started working at EFANOR (Empresa Fabril do Norte), a textile company located close to Porto, owned by Manuel Pinto de Azevedo. He then received a salary of 6,500 Portuguese Escudos. That same year he married Maria Margarida Carvalhais Teixeira de Azevedo, graduated in Pharmacy, with whom he has three children: Nuno, Paulo and Cláudia.

After two years work, Belmiro left EFANOR, because he considered that the company lacked a strategy and was hence doomed to failure. In January 1965 he started working as a researcher in SONAE (Sociedade Nacional de Aglomerados e Estratificados), owned by the Afonso Pinto de Magalhães, a banker, entrepreneur and director of the FCP. He quickly introduced deep changes in the company, which transformed it into a small group of companies. In order to play his new and demanding role, he earned an MBA at Harvard, funded by the company. At the age of 35 he earned a PMD in Management Development.

During the revolution of 1974, Pinto de Magalhães left for the exile and Belmiro de Azevedo took control of SONAE. The company grew significantly the following decades, and spread to new industries, such as food retail (Continente and Modelo), mass media ("Público" newspaper) and telecommunications (Optimus). Later, the group sought to expand internationally, and focused particularly on specialised retail (Bonjour, Vobis, Worten, Sport Zone, etc).
SONAE is a quoted company since 1985, and Belmiro became the group's largest shareholder.
In 1991, in parallel with his business activities, the engineer created a foundation called "Fundação Belmiro de Azevedo", whose mission is to develop the company patronage scheme in the fields of education, arts, culture and solidarity. Activities are thus developed in cooperation with individuals and organizations, with the voluntary support of the company employees. In 2008 the foundation opened the school Colégio Efanor, in Matosinhos - in the same place where the old company facilities where Belmiro started his career used to be located.

In 2007, after 18 years working as director of the SONAE, he transferred the company leadership to his son Paulo de Azevedo, who is presently the CEO of Sonae SGPS. He is the chairman of the management board.
He is a member of the European Union Hong-Kong Business Cooperation Committee, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the European Advisory Board of the London Business School, of the Mexico-Europe 2000 Club and president of the General Council of EGP-Business School of the University of Porto.
This iconic entrepreneur, owner of one of the largest national and international fortunes (is ranked in 350th place on the list of the richest in the world, Forbes magazine), kept a disciplined daily routine. He waked up early, had breakfast at home and exercised at the gym. He then went to work at about 8 in the evening. He didn't usually brought large amounts of work home.
He kept his passion for sports, read books and works mainly on Business Administration - but also on other very different topics, such as the Modern History of Europe. He enjoyed Brazilian and classical music, as well as fado - especially Amália Rodrigues and Alfredo Marceneiro. He didn't watch much TV, as he thought the programme contents are poor; so, his favourite TV channels are RTP2 and National Geographic. Whenever possible, he gathered the family over weekends, in Tuías.

He lived close to Porto, where he grew up. He felt sorry that the city was becoming more and more an old dormitory, which lacked modern equipments and decision-making power, and whose important institutions such as the Soares dos Reis National Museum or the Palácio de Cristal had lost their former glamour.

Belmiro de Azevedo died in Porto, on november 29 2017, at the age of 79.
(Universidade Digital / Gestão de Informação, 2008)