Nova SBE and Grupo Nabeiro – Delta Cafés today unveil the first of many initiatives stemming from a comprehensive partnership aimed at promoting new ways of thinking about leadership, encouraging reflection, and driving progress with a strong focus on innovation.
This collaboration — grounded in the shared belief that leadership requires time, active listening, and human connection — brings together two prestigious Portuguese institutions with international ambition. The partnership encompasses several initiatives targeting current and former executive education participants from Nova SBE, focusing on three key areas: Sustainability, Innovation, and Executive Education.
The partnership officially launches today with the inauguration of the Comendador Rui Nabeiro Heritage Lounge at the Carcavelos campus — an experiential space designed to spark curiosity, boost productivity, and foster connections among students, faculty, business leaders, and partners. Located within the Executive Education area on campus, the Lounge serves as a hub for sharing, creativity, and strategic thinking in a relaxed and welcoming environment.
In addition to the Comendador Rui Nabeiro Heritage Lounge, the Carcavelos campus will host new working areas, thematic exhibitions (focused on the unique intersection of coffee culture and leadership), and podcasts featuring leaders, researchers, and entrepreneurs who will share their experiences and strategies for performance-driven, excellence-oriented leadership.
On the innovation front, Nova SBE — through the Nova SBE Innovation Ecosystem — will lead a set of initiatives including the Grupo Nabeiro – Delta Cafés Games, which use gamification to address organizational challenges by co-creating new business models, and the Innovation Circles, exclusive clubs that promote peer connections, expert-led learning, and experience sharing. These will be complemented by workshops on topics such as resilience, focus management, balancing performance and well-being, and purpose-driven leadership, as well as real-world challenges posed to students who, with mentorship from Grupo Nabeiro – Delta Cafés, will develop global expansion projects with potential to generate future solutions. A variety of content — case studies, publications, and white papers — will also be produced to further explore the relationship between daily habits, leadership culture, and organizational performance.
In the area of sustainability, the focus will be on circularity, promoting the development of new business models aimed at waste reduction, resource conservation, and circular economy solutions. Students will be encouraged to develop innovative ideas for repurposing coffee waste (creating sustainable solutions with real-world impact) and engage in applied research projects to design ideal circularity models for real implementation. Additionally, the creation of startups aligned with circular economy principles will be encouraged, business case studies will be produced for use in the classroom, and local communities in Carcavelos and Campo Maior will be mobilized to put circular models into practice.
“We are very proud to welcome Grupo Nabeiro – Delta Cafés into our community of corporate donors. This is a growing community, and it shows that companies believe their future — and the country’s — depends on education. This partnership also reinforces Nova SBE’s commitment to sustainability and innovation by encouraging our academic community’s active engagement with real-world challenges. Through our connection to the local community and the mobilization of our global network of 42,000 alumni from 91 nationalities, we continue to promote conscious, collaborative, and impact-driven leadership,” says Pedro Oliveira, Dean of Nova SBE.
“At Grupo Nabeiro, we believe that true leadership is built over time, through active listening and strong human connections. This partnership with Nova SBE, which begins today with the inauguration of the Comendador Rui Nabeiro Heritage Lounge — a space that honors my grandfather’s legacy — represents our commitment to innovating and shaping a new generation of leaders capable of transforming the future. Together, we aim to promote sustainability, creativity, and meaningful, concrete impact in organizations and society. We want to inspire new generations to face challenges with vision and act to make a difference,” highlights Rui Miguel Nabeiro, CEO of Grupo Nabeiro – Delta Cafés.