Miguel Mota Freitas: the Worten face of change

Friday, January 27, 2023 - 16:58

The MasterClass, part of the Católica Porto Business School's Post-Graduation in Fashion Management, started with a quote from Peter Drucker. "Culture eats strategy for breakfast, operational excellence for lunch, and everything else for dinner". For the CEO of Worten and Iberian Sports Retail Group (ISRG), Miguel Mota Freitas, a company's culture is the secret of its longevity and success.

It was the motto for an informal conversation that highlighted Belmiro de Azevedo, who Miguel Mota Freitas considers an essential name in the evolution of the Portuguese business fabric and who always had "the grand ambition of creating a group that would resist the passing of generations". So, the growth of Worten is part of the legacy of a business culture that continues in the person of Belmiro's children.

Since most of the audience were students of a fashion course, Miguel Mota Freitas focused on his experience with Zippy and Salsa. For the current CEO of Worten and ISRG, the advances in the sector happened in two moments. The first was in the 1980s, "with Benetton and its endless palette of colours," representing a shift in customer preference. The second was the Inditex group growth and "its strategy of creating pieces from designer to store in three weeks, transforming a chain that used to take months into less than four weeks".

Miguel Mota Freitas emphasized that the Post-Graduation in Fashion Management is an essential tool "for those who want to advance in the fashion industry", where knowledge is increasingly crucial in this unpredictable world.

The second edition of this Post-Graduation will begin in March, and the applications are now open. All the information about the programme and enrollment is here.