The Institute
We are the Lucky vector that brings the will of young people to Education.
Who are we?
We are a non-profit association established by Rodrigo Guimarães family members and close friend, Elizabeth Rothfield with the aim of contributing to quality education by supporting young people with less financial capacity. We also promote entrepreneurship.
What do we do?
We support young students with financial difficulties that inhibit their development and potential, young people aged 13 to 23, residing in Portugal, between the 7th year of schooling and university.
We help plant the seed of knowledge in young students minds for them to reject stagnation, break the cycle and challenge their destiny.
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Because we believe that Education can change people´s future, communities, and society development. We have the ambition to push the limits and impact the academic success of those who alone would hardly be able to.
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We develop partnerships with institutions that are dedicated to quality education or social support of young people that give us the guarantee that we are contributing to personal development, opening horizons and giving them more opportunities.
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Young students looking to achieve a better future. Daring young people who challenge their destiny, and who seek to break down barriers and open horizons. Sometimes we have to plant the seed for them to believe in their own potential.
Who do we do it with?
We support young people in social support institutions where they live or attend. Those who work with young people not only in the educational component, but also in the social and family component.
We work with private educational institutions to ensure that students with less financial capacity have access to quality education.
We have established protocols with universities to create scholarships for attending undergraduate and master's degrees.
Our values
Justice and equality
access to education and courage in imagining that everyone can have the same opportunities.
Freedom
to learn, teach, innovate and conquer.
Respect
for differences, promoting equality.
Motivation and collaboration
to open horizons.
Transparency
in what we do and how we do it.
Humbleness
to embrace anyone´s help that want to join us in this task.
Meritocracy
by recognizing the effort of each one, in the search for knowledge and a better future.
To inspire
our young people to make their dreams come true.
What do we want to change?
We want to have an impact on education by planting the seed of wanting to be, wanting to change:
The relationship between low income and chance of reaching higher education in Portugal.
Only 10.5% of young people with parents in a poor financial situation and with less than the 9th grade complete higher education.*
Levels of school dropout in the first year of higher/or vocational education.**
Technical-professional courses: 24,4% vs. 18,7% in the previous year;
Bachelor’s Degree: 10,8% vs. 9,1% in the previous year;
Masters: 16,2% vs. 16% in the previous year.
* (EU-SILC 2019, BP calculations). There are 3 countries where the percentage is centred around 29% (Netherlands, France and Finland) and the average of 9 countries is close to 20%;
** (DGEEC data)
Who is part of this project?
Our Board of Directors is composed of Rodrigo Marques Guimarães, Elizabeth Rothfield and Teresa Marques Guimarães.
Rita Silveira Botelho is the Executive Director.
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Founding Associate of the Rodrigo Guimarães Institute and son of Rodrigo Guimarães. He is president of the Association and chairman of the Board of Directors.
A defender of getting help where it is most needed and to create the necessary opportunities for young people to achieve everything they want to be.
Member of the Board of Directors of Explorer Investments since 2021.
Member of the Board of Directors of several private equity fund holdings
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Institute Rodrigo Guimarães Founding Associate and longtime friend of Rodrigo Guimarães. She is vice-president of the Board of Directors of the Association.
Passionate about the need to provide young people with a better education that will lead them to open their horizons.
Chairman of the Board of Directors and member of the Investment Committee of Explorer Investments, which she founded with Rodrigo Guimarães. Member of the Board of Directors of several Private Equity fund holdings.
She holds an MA (Hons) in European History and Literature from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland (1987).
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Instituto Rodrigo Guimarães founding Associate and daughter of Rodrigo Guimarães. Member of the Board of Directors of the Association
She wants to plant seeds in underprivileged young people so that they leave their comfort zone and seek to make a difference.
Attending an MSc in International Hospitality Business at the Glion Institute of Higher Education - She has a Diploma in Culinary Arts from the Leiths School of Food and Wine and a Degree in Management and Marketing from the University of Exeter, United Kingdom
Teresa worked in the Marketing department of the Hotel Café Royal and the Gaucho restaurant group in London. She also worked in the Guest Communications team at The Peninsula London.
Today she is working as a Marketing Manager at Discovery Hotel Management.
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Rita is our executive director and believes that education is the answer to the much-needed social elevator, and that aiming for a better future should be within everyone's reach.
She holds a degree in political science and international relations from Lusófona University, and has a postgraduate degree in political science from Universidade Nova de Lisboa. She worked in Capital Markets and banking in Portugal and today she dedicates herself to this project.
Fiscal Council
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Miguel Magalhães
CHAIRMAN
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André Luiz Gomes
MEMBER
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Pedro Ferreira Pinto
MEMBER
Advisory Board
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Rodrigo Marques Guimarães
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Teresa Marques Guimarães
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Elizabeth Rothfield
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André Luiz Gomes
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Jorge Martins
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Graça Proença de Carvalho
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Pedro Santa Clara
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José Maria do Cazal Ribeiro
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Miguel Relvas
More information
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Rodrigo Marques Guimarães
Teresa Marques Guimarães
Catarina Marques Guimarães
Inês Marques Guimarães
Elizabeth Rothfield
Maria Carvalho Martins
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Board of Directors
Rodrigo Guimarães – Presidente
Elizabeth Rothfield - Vice-Presidente
Teresa Guimarães – Vogal
Fiscal Council
Miguel Magalhães – Presidente
Pedro Ferreira Pinto – Vogal
André Luiz Gomes – Vogal
Advisory Board
Rodrigo Carvalho Martins Marques Guimarães
Teresa Carvalho Martins Marques Guimarães
Elizabeth Anne Marie Rothfield
André Magalhães Luiz Gomes
Jorge Azevedo Martins
Maria Graça Ferreira Proença de Carvalho
Pedro Araújo de Santa Clara Gomes
José Maria do Cazal Ribeiro de Carvalho
Miguel Fernando Cassola de Miranda Relvas
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Activity Report
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Rodrigo Guimarães
(1962 – 2021)
“Take advantage of Luck and get out of your comfort zone.”
Born in Lisbon in 1962, Rodrigo Guimarães began his professional career in London at Smith New Court and Carnegie International where he was part of the Executive Committee. He graduated with an MBA from George Washington University, USA, in 1987 and with a BA in Economics from York University, Canada, in 1985.
In 1989 he returned to Portugal and founded Midas Investimentos in 1990, where he was CEO, turning it into one of the leading brokers in the Portuguese market. Midas Investimentos was acquired by BBVA in 1999. He also founded and developed the corporate finance department for the BBVA Group in Portugal. Between 1990 and 1992 he was a member of the Board of Directors of Apolo Cerâmicas as a representative for the Kuwait Investment Office.
After the sale of Midas Investimentos, he founded Explorer Investments together with Elizabeth Rothfield, which turned out to be his lifetime project.
Rodrigo was Explorer Investments ‘CEO until his death on January 16th, 2021, but his legacy will always remain part of Explorer. He was a key figure in the creation and growth of Explorer Investments, promoting a company culture based on excellence, innovation, resilience, and continuous improvement.
Rodrigo was a successful businessman and father of 3 children. He was a humanist concerned with the direction of our youth and a better education promoter for Portuguese young people. He was a supporter of various causes linked to education and defended a need to bet on education.
Endowed with an acute sense of justice, he was a true believer in young people´s need to open their horizons and challenge their luck, creating their own opportunities.
He believed that everyone should be able to study wherever fortune took them, regardless of their financial condition.
