Catarina Furtado, a communications professional, founder, and president of the Corações Com Coroa Association, is the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 33rd edition of the Dona Antónia Awards. Meanwhile, Alexandra Machado, a social entrepreneur, founder, and executive director of Girl Move Academy, receives the Breakthrough Award.
The Lifetime Achievement Award honors a well-established life’s work that deserves unequivocal public recognition. The Rising Star Award, on the other hand, seeks to highlight a career of significance that is currently gaining traction and developing.
Chaired by Artur Santos Silva, the purpose of this award, since its inception, has been to honor Portuguese women whose life journeys reflect a close alignment with the personal and professional values embodied by Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira. A unique figure in the history of the Douro, an entrepreneur with a strong humanistic spirit, Dona Antónia played a decisive role in inspiring the development of the Porto Ferreira brand and of the entire Douro wine industry.
The Winners’ Stories
Catarina Furtado was born in 1972 and will mark, in 2021, will mark thirty years of her career as a communicator in television, radio, theater, and film, as well as an author of documentaries, books, and song lyrics. She starred in the television series “A Ferreirinha,” which depicted the life of Dona Antónia. Recognized for her strong social activism, she has been the founder and President of the Corações Com Coroa Association since 2012, and a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) since 2000.
She is the co-author of five documentary series, “Príncipes do Nada” (2016–2021), which promote citizenship and human rights, as well as four documentaries, “Dar Vida sem Morrer” (2008), filmed in Guinea-Bissau.
In 2005, she was awarded the title of Commander of the Order of Merit by President Jorge Sampaio, and in 2010, she was invited by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to participate as a speaker at the Millennium Summit in New York as a “Champion of the MDGs” and at the official opening of the International Year of Youth.
Since 2000, she has been a guest speaker at the public presentation of the State of World Population Report, at the Assembly of the Republic, and at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2015, she published the book “What I See and Will Never Forget,” an account of her life as a citizen and her experience as a UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador. Over the years, she has been invited countless times to participate in initiatives related to Development Education, Citizenship Education, and Advocacy in Parliament, schools, universities, NGOs, and business associations, and has made many working visits to developing countries and participated in international meetings.
Alexandra Machado is the Executive Director and Founder of Girl Move Academy, a Portuguese NGO established in 2013 with the long-term goal of empowering a new generation of changemaker leaders in Mozambique—the Girl MOVERS —and to support them in their transformation into powerful agents of change. She is passionate about empowering girls and women so they can break the cycle of poverty in which they live in developing countries and is particularly focused on Africa as a promising continent in the fight against global inequalities.
Alexandra has been an Ashoka Fellow since May 2018 and is the only Portuguese woman to have been selected to date. Ashoka is one of the largest international NGOs, selecting social entrepreneurs who are driving the most significant systemic change in the world.
She also volunteers as a Board Member of Eslider (Portuguese Association for Social Innovation) and as a Council Member of the International Center for Knowledge and Leadership for Impact at NOVA SBE.
She holds a degree in Management and Administration from the Portuguese Catholic University (1990), where she taught as an Assistant Professor (1990–1992). She has over 20 years of business experience in various fields, ranging from the mass market to retail, marketing, and sales, in both the private and public sectors.
Alexandra Machado began her career at the Entreposto Group (1990–1994) and later worked at the Jerónimo Martins Group (1994–2001), where, among other responsibilities, she was in charge of developing the Pingo Doce private label and served as Commercial and Marketing Director at Feira Nova, now Pingo Doce. Following this experience in retail, she moved into the technology sector to join the startup Oniway (2001–2002). She then served as General Manager of Nike Portugal (2003–2012), with responsibility for all functional areas and for the development of Nike’s business in Portugal across all formats (retail and outlet stores). From 2009 to 2012, she also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Nike Iberia.
Advocacy for entrepreneurship and humanistic values
Created in 1988 by the honoree’s descendants and Sogrape, owner of the Porto Ferreira brand, with an independent jury chaired by Artur Santos Silva, the DONA ANTÓNIA AWARDS aim to annually honor Portuguese women who publicly distinguish themselves through their human qualities and entrepreneurial spirit, following the exceptional example set by Dona Antónia in contributing to Portugal’s economic, social, and cultural development.
In short, the award’s organizers seek to honor women whose stance and ideals closely align with the characteristics and values of “Ferreirinha.”
A review of the list of women honored to date clearly demonstrates the soundness of the jury’s work. All the awardees share the same entrepreneurial spirit, leadership skills, openness to innovation and creativity, a sense of public service, and social awareness.
About Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira
Two centuries after the birth of Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira (1811–1896), whom her fellow townsfolk affectionately nicknamed “Ferreirinha,” to recall this unique figure in the history of the Douro Wine Region is to pay a fitting tribute to a woman who became a symbol not only of entrepreneurship and viticulture in the Douro, but also a shining example of altruism and generosity toward those most in need.
Dona Antónia passed away on March 26, 1896, just as she was about to turn 85, after a life dedicated to the cause of the Douro Wine Region and its inhabitants, especially the poorest and most disadvantaged, and she was undoubtedly one of the most remarkable figures in the history of one of the world’s earliest and most important demarcated wine-growing regions.
This frail yet vibrant and courageous woman became a rare symbol of entrepreneurship and is remembered today as an example of tenacity in combating the tragedy and misery that befell the Douro region as a result of the phylloxera plague, which destroyed vast vineyards and the dreams of many ruined farmers. It was a scene of desolation to which Ferreirinha responded resolutely in the fight against the vine disease, through research into the most advanced wine-making processes, the planting of new, large vineyards, and substantial acquisitions of land and wine from fearful and cash-strapped owners.
As the heiress to a wealthy Douro family with significant interests in vineyard cultivation and Port wine production, Dona Antónia found herself, at the age of 33, after being widowed, to take the helm of the family business and build what would become the FERREIRA estate—a mission she fulfilled with rare brilliance, demonstrating an extraordinary entrepreneurial spirit.
But Dona Antónia did not limit herself to managing the fortune she had inherited. Instead, she invested passionately and intensely in the Douro region she loved so dearly, without waiting for protection or support from the government. It was said of Ferreirinha that she was generous toward the poor and the vulnerable, yet haughty toward the rich and powerful; and that she was just as at ease in the homes of the humblest workers as she was at the Royal Palace. All these qualities, combined with her fine wines—which won awards at the most prestigious international exhibitions—contributed to this extraordinary woman acquiring a legendary status in the business world of the Douro Region, with her recognition extending nationwide.