João Ramadas, a student of the International MSc in Management with a major in Entrepreneurship & Innovation from CATÓLICA-LISBON, won the Primus Inter Pares 2018 award. This is an award that distinguishes future leaders in the areas of Economics, Management and Engineering, and which offers a tuition-paid MBA in one of the six Business Schools in Portugal or Spain at the choice of the winner.

At 22, with an undergraduate degree from ISCTE and an international master's degree from CATÓLICA-LISBON, João dreamed of becoming an MBA student someday. However, once he was approached to compete for this honour, he did not hesitate.

"I was already thinking of the MBA, but having this opportunity was great because it opens many doors at an international level", he emphasized.

For João, "the day of the assessment was the most challenging part, because for a day and a half we would be involved in various activities, as well as times for introspection, that made us think about what we really wanted to do in the future."

Primus Inter Pares is an award promoted by the newspaper Expresso and by Santander Totta Bank. This 15th edition welcomed over 100 applications, from which five finalists were selected.

João revealed to CATÓLICA-LISBON that he does not yet know where he is going to do the MBA, but that he may opt to go abroad to have a different experience and to "open many international doors and make contacts."

"The most important thing was to have won an MBA, as well as the recognition not only for my grades, but also for the balance that is needed between academic and personal life," he added.

In addition to João Ramadas, two girls, placed 2nd and 3rd, were also awarded an MBA. Also, and the two students who were ex-aequo in 4th place won the option of doing postgraduate degrees.

In last year's edition, Tomás Virtuoso (a CATÓLICA-LISBON Masters student in Economics) won the 2nd place and was also awarded an MBA.

The winner of Primus Inter Pares 2018, João Ramadas, was announced this Monday night at a gala held at the Sud Lisboa Hall in Lisbon.