Nuno Santana is the director, entrepreneur, owner and president of NIU, the company behind major events in Portugal that turns 30 this year. In an interview with Jornal Económico, he revealed his desire to keep NIU as a family business, without taking it public. Even while acknowledging that in the last two years he has been approached many times by private equity funds that see in NIU an opportunity to participate in investment.

NIU will continue to be an independent, family-owned company, and its founder and CEO is proud, however, to have retained some PSI companies as clients for 30 years.

After 30 years, NIU is committed to rebranding with a new image to reinforce the new concept of the company. “NIU 3.0 is about the ambition to be experts in people’s behaviour,” says Nuno Santana. To achieve this, investment is needed and the total investment value of the NIU reorganisation project will exceed two million euros.

Nuno Santana is also part of the Grupo Praia shareholder group and is a shareholder in Media Capital, through Biz Partners, which owns 11.97% of CNN owner. The businessman returned to the management of Media Capital in May, a role he held until September 2022, when he was replaced by Miguel Osorio, his partner at Biz Partners.

Let's start with NIU, a company that has been responsible for creating brand activation events for large companies for 30 years. What is NIU's turnover?

In 2023, NIU’s turnover was around €12 million, up from around €10 million in 2022. We will close in 2024 in line with last year. This is because the beginning of the year, due to the political situation leading up to the elections, suffered from the impact of this political uncertainty on the companies we work with. We work with large companies whose investment decisions are influenced by political decisions, so an election and a change of government have put these companies’ investment strategies and budgets on “freeze”. NIU felt that the first three to four months of the year, compared to last year, were relatively grey.

NIU turns 30 this year and historically, over the past 15 years, our turnover has always been between 7 and 9 million euros. Shortly after Covid, the number rose to 10 million in 2022. What does NIU expect in 2025?

I don't want to expect the same thing in 2025 as we expected at the beginning of the year. [eleições antecipadas]Now, if I had this as a hypothesis on my mental timeline, I would admit it. Rent is going to be very critical in 2025, with the state budget vote.

Is NIU profitable? What is the net result?

We don't usually talk about results. We talk about investment. We entered an investment cycle at the end of last year, which started with the acquisition of these facilities. [sede da NIU]which has a lot to do with the repositioning of NIU, which was rebranded in July 2024. We want to expand NIU into new business areas, operational support areas, within the core of NIU. NIU is not just about ideas, it is about making ideas happen. In a world with a shortage of talent, we need the equipment to fill this gap. One of the great advantages of NIU is that it is very self-sufficient, within this 4,000 square meters we have a series of in-house skills. We are what is called in English a one-stop shop.

What are the fields of study at NIU?

We are divided into four areas, Corporate Experience (corporate events); Brand Experience which has a lot to do with brand activation (such as Wonderland); Shopper Experience, where consumer experiences are created at the point of sale (Praia was designed by NIU); and 360° Creative Production, which includes all types of production to ensure the authenticity of the experience from start to finish.

What investment are you thinking of making?

I would say that at this moment, the total investment in the NIU reorganization project, in what we call NIU 3.0, will exceed two million euros. NIU 3.0 is about the ambition to be experts in people’s behavior. We have moved from the concept of “activating brands” to the concept of “activating people”, because we know their behavior, because of the history of NIU, because we have a laboratory called Praia, and because we have a very large footprint in areas such as music, culture, gastronomy, entertainment. Very quickly in the events that we organize, for example for Sonae, we simply communicate and anticipate the behaviors of CEOs and managers, as in an event like Wonderland we analyze and map the behaviors of Generation Z, as in Praia we analyze and map the behaviors of millennials, because in Praia we offer a lot of after-dinner services.

How many people work at NIU?

There are 70.

Who owns Neo?

We are a family business (my father and I are partners) and have had some PSI companies as clients for 30 years. And that is without being part of a large group. We are a national company that has been in a transformation for three decades and has employees with more than 25 years in its teams. The world has changed and so has NIU, we have been a production company for 30 years

It is a family business that can compete with large groups…

We've been at Sonae for 21 years, at Coca-Cola for 21 years, at Altice for 15 years, and the people in charge of these companies change, but we're always the same. That's an asset to the companies because we're part of the storytelling and the activation of the brand.

NIU has a multidisciplinary portfolio of clients such as Sonae; Coca-Cola; Beer Center (Heineken and Sagres); Eau de Parfum; Altice; Visa; Portugal Tourism; Santa Casa da Misericordia, NOS Alive. In 30 years the fabric of the business has changed, companies such as BES, Portugal Telecom, Banif have disappeared… Today the fabric of the business is made up of start-ups andAs biotech companies gain prominence, how is NIU adapting to this change?

There were many sleepless nights with these doubts. The truth is, here we are 30 years later. After Covid, when it was the biggest threat in the last 30 years, we had a huge increase in revenue because we were prepared, and people were aligned within the team. The world has really changed in the last four years, more than it has in the last 20. It has changed the way we look at work, our relationships with brands and companies. And that brings us big challenges. How am I going to prepare? Innovation. Innovation cannot be achieved without investment. And that is what we are doing and that is how NIU 3.0 was born.

Has NIU ever considered having private equity as a shareholder to boost growth?

We're not thinking about going public. We've had a lot of private equity calls. We've had four private equity calls in the last two years.

Now speaking of Praia, how is Praia in Comporta? This year there were fewer people in Comporta in August…

We haven't made any decisions on Praia da Comporta yet. I could develop the Comporta theme for two hours. I think Comporta still lacks the critical mass for our type of product and experience. Is it missing the sublime? I don't think so.
Comporta is a destination of excellence, it's an amazing destination, it has an incredible group of international investors, it sells very well abroad, and now it has to have a timeline for growth, Comporta still has to grow. The big question is whether it's going to take three years, 10 years, 20 years to grow.
There is a lack of accessible hotel projects for millennials, who are largely our target audience.

Is this because Comporta has been sold as an expensive destination?

Luxury has its own dynamic, that is, when we talk about a high-end destination, we have to take into account that this type of audience also loves social events and variety. Many of the real estate projects currently being developed in Comporta are designed to be self-sufficient, in the areas of entertainment, restaurants and leisure.

In Grupo Praia, who is the largest shareholder?

There is some parity between the three largest shareholders in Praia. I am a bit biased in the emotional way I have been involved in the project, but the CEO is Joao Arnau.
Praia was born from a group of friends, João Arnau and Francisco Spinola, joined by two shareholders, Thomas Froes and Sebastião Pinto Ribeiro, we all worked together on the MEO Spot project 14 years ago and enjoyed it so much that I challenged them to open Praia Restaurant.
We will now open in Oeiras, in Marina, but it will not be called Praia. We have had the franchise for 20 years. Oeiras has a huge institutional footprint, with prominent business parks in the municipality. We believe there is room for more sophisticated restoration projects in the municipality of Oeiras.

What is the investment in the new restaurant in Oeiras?

The investment is supposed to be around 2.5 million euros, but we still don't have a specific opening date.

How are Grupo Praia invoices prepared?
We had an 8% growth last year, this year we have a growth in the same direction, we should end the year with about 14 million euros in revenue. We have just opened a new terrace in Praia no Parque.

Do NIU and Grupo Praia, as major employers, use migrants? What immigration policy should we have?

There are no companies in Portugal that do not employ immigrants because we lack talent, and we have low levels of unemployment. The state's social policy adopted in recent years has contributed to this lack of talent.

What does it take to retain talent?

From an emotional standpoint, from a personal standpoint, we all have a long way to go. Economically, it is urgent to rethink our labor tax policy. It is important to reduce labor taxes in order to release money into the economy by increasing purchasing power. I am afraid that what is being done is timid. There must be a reformist vision for fiscal policy. The IRC is important, but what is more important is to reduce the IRS.

Should immigration policy be “smart”, i.e. should we accept migrants who have the qualifications we need?

We have to take in the immigrants we need and who fit into the economy. Immigrants have to be an asset, not a burden. There has to be control. But immigration is important. In the restaurant area. The hotel and hospitality sector, we really need the workforce. We have an aging population and we need active contributors to social security and immigrant contributions.

Now let's talk about participating in Media Capital, is it a personal investment?

Yes, through my personal company. Media Capital has been a partner of NIU for 14 years – the events company is the producer (with Media Capital) of Wonderland Lisboa – and I really believe in the potential of amplifying the brand, I believe in the content, and there was an opportunity to invest, and we took advantage. I and a group of shareholders bought 12%. I now run Media Capital, which has allowed me to learn a lot and has been very rewarding. Mario Ferreira, in addition to being a partner, is a friend.