Meet the member Linkare with João André

Meet CCBP Members – Linkare – João André

Name: João André

Email: jandre@linkare.com

Company: Linkare TI

Website: https://www.linkare.com/f/

Position: Business Development Manager

Date: 10/2024

Briefly describe your professional career:

I began my professional career in the field of sports, having worked for a small federation and a startup, as well as maintaining a parallel activity as an athlete and coach. A few years ago, following an academic foray into International Relations, I had the opportunity to do an internship at the Permanent Representation of Portugal to the European Union and, while in Brussels, I ended up finding Linkare, the company where I am now responsible for international business development.

Briefly describe your company and the work you do there:

Linkare is a company that provides services in the area of information technology, focusing mainly on software development tailored to the needs of its clients by building dedicated teams with the ability to deliver end-to-end projects. We started working in the international market in 2010 with a number of successful projects for European institutions, and in recent years we have expanded our international activity to the private sector, which currently accounts for more than half of our turnover. This year, as Linkare celebrates its 20th anniversary, we are able to assert ourselves as a truly international company. With nearly 55 people from 8 countries, we now have the privilege of collaborating with some major global market leaders in different sectors of activity ranging from telecommunications to financial services. My job currently focuses on continuing to develop Linkare's international business, today with a substantial focus on the private sector, but without neglecting possible opportunities in the European Institutions with whom we have a long history of collaboration

What sets your company apart from your competitors?

As an SME, we don't have the ability to distinguish ourselves by numbers, so our focus is on the quality of our teams, both academically and on a technical and human level. Although we are relatively agnostic in terms of sector specialization, our technological focus (namely on Java and open source technologies), together with our structure and our way of working in very close contact with our clients, allow us to offer highly specialized services that meet their needs. This way of approaching the market, which is very much geared towards solving specific technological problems, has led to the development of a strong internal innovation component which ends up translating into significant added value for our clients. The fact that we also have the company registered in Belgium and an open office allows us, if necessary, to have teams working on-site, although nowadays most of our services are provided nearshore from Portugal.

What services can you offer to other CCBP members?

Linkare can offer software development services, in addition to all the services associated with infrastructure, devops, platform engineering and web design. Over the last few years we have been focusing our offer on building dedicated teams (team as a service), and we already have extensive experience working with large companies from different sectors, although we are always available to study outsourcing and consultancy opportunities on specific IT topics. We are also always open to partnerships for public tenders, both for projects for the European Institutions and for national public administrations.

Why did you become a member of the CCBP?

The CCBP appeared as an opportunity to grow our network of contacts and explore new business opportunities. Our membership of the Chamber is also a way for us to contribute, within our possibilities and limitations, to strengthening trade relations between Belgium and Portugal, the two countries where we have a physical presence, above all by promoting our technical skills in the information technology sector, where we believe we have a strong comparative advantage.