Entrepreneur, traveler, author & speaker, professor & PhD student at ISCTE-IUL, André Leonardo, was elected in 2016 as one of the “seven young people who are transforming the World” by PANGEA (Madrid, Spain).
Born in Angra do Heroísmo, Azores, André is passionate about entrepreneurship in small islands and territories. At the age of 24, he sold what he had, collected sponsorships and left alone for an expedition around the world that would pass through 23 countries. His goal was simple: report successful cases of entrepreneurs in different business ecosystems. He used and empirical learning method and resorted to semi-structured interviews. I made more than two hundred meetings with entrepreneurs in 23 countries that resulted in 143 reported cases in different entrepreneurship ecosystems such as Silicon Valley (USA), Tel Aviv (Israel), Nairobi (Kenya), Deli (India), England (UK), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Sydney (Australia), Tokyo (Japan) or Bangkok (Thailand). From this project André wrote the portuguese entrepreneurship best-seller “Faz Acontecer” (“Make it happen”).
André is the promoter and host of the “Faz Acontecer” Tv series that airs in CanalQ where he travels all around Portugal – from little villages to big cities – to report the most inspiring entrepreneurs. At the moment there’s 18 episodes with more than 2million viewers.
Some cool highlights:
– Interviewed +300 Top CEOs and successful entrepreneurs in his expeditions.
– Launched in 2015 his first book “Faz Acontecer / Make It Happen” in Portugal (available in Portuguese and English), in 2016, was co-author of the book ‘Pangea: seven young people who are transforming the world ‘, in Spain; 2020 launched his second book “Faz Acontecer, Portugal” and in 2021 co-author of the book “67 vozes por Portugal”;
– Author of several articles for blogs and national and international newspapers such as Under30CEO or UPGLOBAL.
– Visited almost 50 countries;
– Organized international entrepreneurship events for hundreds of people;
– 2 humanitarian missions (India and Mozambique);
– Mentor to dozens of people to go after their dreams and projects;
– Since 2017 he is an Invited Assistant Professor at ISCTE;
– Investor in 2 boutique hostels in his hometown, Angra do Heroísmo.
The feedback that I got from my 200 employees was just phenomenal. They say it was the best talk ever!
When I think of Andre, I think of passion, commitment, and doing. Andre will bring a lot of energy and value to any engagement.
His delivery showcased the learner in him along with the grit, passion and perseverance he has endured to travel around the world and understand how does different countries and its entrepreneurs succeed or meet the challenges.
André takes it to a mesmerizing round-the-world experience! It´s so inspiring! André can “make happen” what many people just talk about. The world needs more ‘Andrés Leonardos’!
André’s presentation is credible, impressive and particularly funny. The attendees have all received his best seller, ‘make it happen’. A book that reads very pleasantly and quickly. The survey we always carry out after our events showed a particularly high appreciation for the reading of Andre.
At the tender age of 24, André Leonardo – the Azorean from Terceira Island – set off on a year-long journey around the world that would take him to 23 different countries. His aim was simple: to seek energy as well as a spirit beyond the ‘ crisis ‘ and ‘ debt ‘, to establish contact with positive people, Both in business and in life, learning from people who overcome all sorts of adversities and that more than creating companies or promoting projects, Made it happen by staring at the present and the future with optimism and the ability to dream. It was urgent to collect these cases scattered all over the world by radically different societies, cultures and political-economic contexts – And yet all connected by the same will to make it happen.
André is the host and author of “Faz Acontecer” (Make it happen) TV Series.
“Faz Acontecer” is a Portuguese travel and entrepreneurship show that airs on the portuguese channel CanalQ. In it, André Leonardo visits cities where he meets and reports stories of inspiring local entrepreneurs and at the same time gets to know the local culture, people, habits and cuisine.
André Leonardo travelled alone to the 4 corners of the world taking only a backpack and a camera. He gathered inspiring entrepreneurship stories throughout his 126-thousand-kilometer journey and which he presents us in his book. Here the word entrepreneurship takes on a new meaning and definitely reveals itself as a lifestyle. An attitude towards life regardless of the environment and time we live in.
During 1 year André visited 23 countries – Portugal, Czech Republic, Israel, Palestine, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, India, Nepal, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, USA, Canada and England.
The story behind the entrepreneur. What is his story? What’s his favorite quote? How many hours did he need to make his dream come true? Where, how and why? In this book, you will find the most inspirational entrepreneurship stories that André gathered all over the world.
In this book you can find the most valuable lessons André’ve learnt filled with travelling and inspiration. One of this amazing experiences, “Put things into perspective” (Kibera story) was nominated “One of the best 80 stories from around the world” by the Navigator Company.
André sold everything he owned and looked for sponsors (only 7 said ‘yes’ out of 97). With a very short budget and with no money for accomodation or food he decided to go anyway. During this mission he lost almost 10kg, slept on the streets and was robbed. But he made it happen.
