International Marketing Portugal On Surfing Entrepreneurs

Marta Albert and John Malheiros, both in their mid-thirties, did not become successful entrepreneurs by chance. Marta created her first company at 17, while still in school, and John was growing increasingly unexcited by the world of consultancy. When their paths crossed, they decided to open a business together, and since they both enjoyed surfing, they thought why not? They formed their company Master Blank, and became one of only two companies in the world producing foam core surfboards, going on to win the Young Entrepreneur Award from ANJE in 2010.

A source at International Marketing Portugal, a Lisbon-based sales and marketing company, said “It’s great to see young entrepreneurs being successful. It takes great perseverance to start a business, as it can take a long time and hard work to achieve success.”

Marta and John started their company with only two employees, and spent three years working at the University of Minho’s Polymer Engineering Research department. After testing their product, and putting it into production, they realised that the product had many more applications than just for surfboards, and went on to create a second branch of their company ‘Master Block’ which uses the same foam material to manufacture thermal insulation for buildings and vehicles, as well as many other applications.

“A big part of being a successful entrepreneur is being able to recognise opportunity when you are presented with it,” said our source at International Marketing Portugal, “Marta and John saw that potential and ran with it, and created something huge from it. They could have been happy making surfboards, but they chose to be ambitious and take it to the next step.”

Investing in new product development takes a long time and a lot of money. Marta and John spent three years testing and investing in their product. The initial investment was about half a million Euros, funded by equity and bank loans. They admit it was difficult to convince the bank to finance the project, but their combined experience convinced the lenders.

Our source at International Marketing Portugal said, “The next big challenge for them is the export market. They are currently developing relationships with Swiss, German, Belgian and French companies, but there is still much work ahead.”

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