I am deeply honored to have been included among the 100 Most Influential Women of Angola, by O Telegrama a network of women who are strongly committed to make Angola a better country for present and future generations.

During the last 20 years, as a Professor at the Faculty of Law of Agostinho Neto University (in Luanda), my aim was to foster the critical thinking and the courage to question the status quo in what the governance of Angolan companies is concerned.

Even though we may have adequate legislation (law in books), this is of little impact if we are not able to put it into practice (law in action). Only by acting guided by a powerful purpose of ensuring business respects the highest ethical standards, transparency and accountability, one may ascertain the revenues generated by Angolan companies will have a positive outcome on the well-being of the overall Angolan population.

Even so, companies do not act on their own. In fact, companies are made of people and companies’ actions are the actions carried out by each person who works, decides and speaks on behalf of a given company. Therefore, if the aim is to change companies’ actions, one shall focus on modifying individual behavior; and, in order to do so, one needs to pay attention to each person beliefs, aspirations and goals.

I truly believe that if each person does his/hers best in any tinny action him/her carries out in his/hers daily life, the impact of such small actions will propagate, leading to an increasingly progressive impact in the standard of living of the Angolan population.

At the end of the day, we just wish to build a better country for our children.