USJ bids to help Portuguese companies enter Chinese market

The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) in Macau is working to assist companies in Marinha Grande, Portugal, to enter the Chinese market, according to a university representative who spoke to Lusa news agency.

According to Francisco Peixoto, the head of the USJ delegation in Portugal, the objective is “to support companies in the municipality of Marinha Grande in their internationalization efforts through the USJ incubation system, which currently connects Portugal, Macau, and Hengqin.”

In March, USJ launched an incubator to attract Portuguese-speaking startups and help Macau companies invest in Portuguese-speaking countries’ markets. Last February, it signed an agreement to open an incubator in Hengqin with Chinese construction firm Sany Group.

USJ has also signed an agreement with the Marinha Grande City Council, under which it agrees to hold entrepreneurship workshops and organize trade missions to China for local companies. One of the workshops will focus on the ability to do business in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.

Peixoto stated that through these trade missions, USJ aims to create opportunities, allowing “micro, small, and medium-sized companies in Marinha Grande to strengthen their internationalization efforts.”

The protocol, signed Oct. 3, also involves the Marinha Grande School Group and targets final-year secondary school students from the municipality of Leiria district. USJ will provide scholarships for these students as part of the “considerable number” of scholarships opened annually for students from Portuguese-speaking countries.

Peixoto added, “We hope that by September next year, we will be able to count on students from Marinha Grande.” The university representative said the protocol with Marinha Grande is “a pilot project” and that similar agreements could be signed with other Portuguese municipalities.