Mentors

António Trindade

António Trindade was born in Angola in 1960. He was raised and educated in West Africa and Europe. He arrived Hong Kong in 1986 and was appointed CEO of CESL Asia in Macau in 1998. He has steadily guided the company in providing sustainable products, services and technology solutions addressing local needs in areas such as energy and technical facilities management, architectural and engineering services, development and operational services for critical public and private infrastructures for environment, energy, transportation and culture, agriculture and foods. He contributes to a prodigious number of associations of social, economic, educational and professional nature, including founding president of the Macao Association of Environmental Protection Industry. He has a ‘Portuguese-Catholic’ background. He married a Chinese national and has raised his daughter – a fan of Sporting Clube de Portugal – with the best of the two cultures. Fairness, he says, also has a place in business. He says: “I would be happy if my daughter and people around me can say I have helped them improve their quality of life.”

Benson, Io Teng Fok

Vice President of IT Corporate
Sociedade de Jogos de Macau S.A. (SJM)

Bruno Gutman

Bruno Gutman is a lawyer licensed in Brazil and Portugal, with expertise in startups, venture capital, and international business expansion. He works on structuring companies, investment funds, and soft landing projects, connecting ecosystems in Brazil, Europe, and the CPLP countries.

With solid experience in innovation and investments, he has supported entrepreneurs and foreign investors in mobility, business expansion, and capital attraction processes in Portugal. He is a member of the Braga Delegation of the Portuguese Bar Association, being the first Brazilian to join its governing bodies.

Calvin Sio

Founder & CEO | Director of Sustainability Zence Object Technology | Chazence · Macau

Pioneer in cross-disciplinary sustainable innovation | Deep-tech green materials expert | University of Cambridge Sustainability Accreditation

Calvin Sio is an interdisciplinary designer with a specialisation in sustainable development. His works have garnered awards from several international renowned design institutions and have been featured in various domestic and international media outlets. This includes being listed in TIME magazine’s “2021 Best Inventions”. Calvin Sio has dedicated himself to leading Macau brands into the global market, promoting products in prestigious cultural establishments worldwide such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, Galeries Lafayette in France, LOFT in Japan, and Tsutaya Bookstore.

Felix Pontes

Member of the Association of Macau Basic Law
Deputy Chairman of the Board of General Assembly of the Macau House of Mercy
Former Executive Director of AMCM

Higor Esteves

Master’s degree in Industrial Management and Strategy from the Higher Institute of Economics and Management (ISEG – Portugal). He is Vice-President of CE-CPLP, the Executive Committee of the Business Confederation of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CE-CPLP), working to coordinate the private sector, governments and multilateral organisations to strengthen economic relations within the CPLP. He is also Director-General of Start CPLP, responsible for promoting entrepreneurship, innovation and the creation of business ecosystems among member countries. He held the position of Director-General of FUNCEX Europa (Brazilian Foreign Trade Studies Centre Foundation), where he led initiatives aimed at promoting international trade, attracting investment and bringing European markets and Portuguese-speaking countries closer together. He has extensive international experience, having participated in projects developed in Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Poland, China, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Mozambique and Angola, working on initiatives for trade promotion, business internationalisation, economic diplomacy and the development of multisectoral strategic partnerships.

James Si Tou

General Manager, Huan Cai Fireworks Trading Co., Ltd.
President of the Macau Entrepreneurship Club
Founder of Shangju Holding Group Co., Ltd.

James Si Tou, 27, born in 1997, graduated from Cass Business School, City University London, majoring in business studies. Since graduating in 2018, he has returned to Macau to start his own business, founding Togather Group, which aims to build a business ecosystem to assist smes in globalizing their businesses. In the same year, he took over the family-run fireworks company and developed it into the most experienced fireworks and special effects supplier in Macau. He actively participates in community activities, founded the SMEs Union in 2022, and successfully hosted the “Macau SME Wholesale and Business Exhibition”, helping more than 200 enterprises to connect with each other. In 2023, he served as president of Macao Startup Club to promote Macao’s entrepreneurial environment. At the same time, he joined the Macao International Young Talents Association and served as the chairman to promote the development and exchange of young talents. In 2024, he became the Mastermind Council’s Hong Kong and Macao Regional Director, promoting cooperation between domestic enterprises and ASEAN businesses, and promoting inter-regional business ties and development.

Renee Pan

Managing Director, Gobi Partners
Guangzhou Tianhe CPPCC Member
Member of Macau Science and Technology Committee
Guangdong Entrepreneurship Mentor

Renee is the Managing Director of Gobi Partners – an over 24 years’ Pan-Asia venture capital firm. Renee has more than 16 years of experience in business management and operations, 12 years in Venture Capital. Renee was previously the Managing Partner of Brinc China – a global VC and Accelerator, focusing on seed stage investments in IoT, Healthcare, Smart Manufacturing, AI and FoodTech, for helping them to accelerate the market validation and 0-100 stage. In addition, she and her team has helped over 100 overseas startups connect with the Greater Bay Area for supply chain or expanding into the China market. She also built out strategic partnership with other ecosystem players, including the government, corporates, research institutes and co-investors to foster the startup ecosystems and provide value add to startups.

Stephen Berry

Dr Stephen Berry is the Chief Executive Officer of DDE Technology, a cybersecurity services and advisory company that works with clients in Macau and around the world to protect critical public infrastructure and operations. Stephen has held business development and leadership roles in the IT industry for over 30 years. He first came to Macau in 2006, in the role of Technology Director for the City of Dreams casino and resort during its construction. Stephen is a guest lecturer on a range of leadership topics with various university MBA programs, including the University of Saint Joseph in Macau. 

Terence Lee

Co-founder and current chairman of Sustaincia.org, a non-profit organization encouraging sustainability using technology and social efforts.

Professionals from all industries come together for projects such as smart city digital community, art and cultural sustainability with NFT and metaverse, sustainability content analysis using AI NLP; and we organize events for green transportation and energy, biotechnology exchange, global financial investments in technology, and future career paths for youth. Our members consists of technologists, financial experts and education practitioners from all over the world. We have a saying “at sustaincia we launch sustainability!”

Dr Toa Charm

Associate Professor, CUHK
Chairman, OpenCertHub
Principal Advisor of Elite Start-ups in Asia