My name is Hugo. I’m helping you reimagine the present and build the better future that could be waiting for us.
Services
Let’s talk if you want to:
Harness latent demand for circularity in your brand and your customers;
Work on bold, resilient ventures, with built-in protection from the bureaucratic immune response;
or
3. Start building the ecological restoration ventures for creating more habitable, thriving futures.
My collaborators look for something that regular strategy tends to leave out. They need a general-purpose operator who can focus on hard detail and high stakes questions, all the while preparing them for what is waiting just over the horizon.
This is why I created Flourishing.
Does this sound like something that connects dots for you?
If so, let’s exchange ideas.
My mission
David Attenborough talks about the ‘wonderful recovery’ that we could - and should - witness this century.
And if that were to become a reality?
This idea goes broader than the natural world. It’s about stabilising and increasing resilience across all systems. We’ve done a lot of dismantling, in a sort space of time, in without creating better solutions.
What about imagining and building the new, life-centric economy?
I’m working on my role in expanding your options for the future. My mission is twofold:
Building the circular and regenerative economy - the only way we’re going to create a viable industrial civilisation.
Scaling up the planet’s life support systems to create the wonder and abundance we need now and tomorrow.
Both represent a shift that’s as big as moving from the agricultural to the industrial revolution. And, if that weren’t hard enough, it’s one that asks for an artificially fast transition.
This challenge is what motivates me to help make the regenerative version of tomorrow something we all get to do - not something we might have to suffer.
This is what I help people, organisations and institutions do.
To this job I bring the richness of two decades of designing, delivering and measuring ambitious, first-of-a-kind programmes. From building police stations in Congo, to opium licensing in Afghanistan, to helping C-suites use applied foresight, my experience gives me a different skill- and mindset.
Thanks to a decade and a half of working on complex transformations with PwC and Strategy& I bring rigour and old-world skills in service of a new world mentality.
Ventures
Bioma
I am CEO and co-founder of Bioma, my core venture.
Our mission? To regenerate 50,000 hectares of degraded land across Portugal by 2035
Starting with carbon removal, we are building a nature-based portfolio that will remove 9 million tonnes of CO₂e.
We make this a reality by helping businesses and the guardians of landscapes invest in the living infrastructure of one of Europe’s highest-potential carbon sinks.
If you are an investor, landowner, or potential collaborator, you can talk to me, or to us, to find out more.
Board work
I am lucky to collaborate with two organisations, each with a mission that is tightly interwoven with my own.
The Salonga Conservation Initiative
I’m president of the board of the Salonga Conservation Initiative (SCI).
SCI’s mission is to preserve the astonishing biodiversity of the Salonga National Park in Democratic Republic of Congo, stronghold of the endangered bonobo. We carry out critical field research that assesses wildlife populations, habitats and threats to guide impactful conservation strategies.
I once heard the remark that “to work in conservation is to witness our own demise”. Can you imagine a stronger call to action?
Urbem afforestation, Lisbon
I am also a member of Urbem’s board of directors.
Urbem’s mission is to connect people to nature, to each other, and to themselves. We do this by creating and sustaining Miyawaki forests across the city I call home, Lisbon. In this way we make the city happier and more liveable, and boost its resilience to the climate stuff that is coming down the track.
What it would be like if we were to transform a beautiful cityscape into a flourishing archipelago of dense, small forests of native species?
Alliances
These are the travelling companions in this chapter of my journey.
Clients
Partners
Feedback
What my clients and collaborators say:
“Hugo combined high level thinking with down to earth feedback for us.
This supported our goal to deliver a white paper that was incredibly useful and understandable in practice, while ensuring it took the bigger circularity picture into account.”
Joost de Kluiver, CEO, Closing The Loop
“Despite its significance for conservation, the Congo is not what one could call user-friendly. Bugs, snakes, humidity, diseases, and impossible remoteness deter most people unaccustomed to tropical fieldwork.
However, there was this one guy who, through his own initiative, kept popping up at our remote field site and who, over many years, became a treasure to our organization.
As president of the board of directors, Hugo not only brings the Salonga Conservation Initiative his specialty in solution modelling. He also brings to any international organization invaluable experience shared by few. His enterprises are rooted in an avid love of nature. He has shown that he will risk life and limb for it.”
Dr Gay Reinartz, Director, Salonga Conservation Initiative
“Hugo joined Footprints Africa to develop our thought leadership capability.
He has a remarkable ability to synthesise current facts, future visions and powerful stories to create clear and ambitious narratives of what is possible.
His work with us has positioned Footprints as a leading voice on circularity on the continent.”
Joanna Bingham, CEO, Footprints Africa, and circular economy strategist
“I've collaborated with Hugo on two projects: at Urbem Forests, where we invited him to join the Board of Directors because we were very impressed with his strong sustainability background and vision but also his very practical approach and hands-on persistence to making the city of Lisbon a greener place. He made tremendous efforts to grow our grassroots citizen efforts as well as network with key city hall decision makers. I've also started working with Hugo on a separate carbon credits venture.
His structured approach and immense knowledge, as well as ability to network with potential partners, has been an incredible strength.”
Sasi Kandasamy, CEO, Urbem Miyawaki, Lisbon
“I feel grateful to have Hugo leading Bioma and helping us build not only a project, but a living movement rooted in regeneration, hope, and responsibility.
Working alongside Hugo to build the vision for Bioma has been deeply inspiring. From the very beginning, I was impressed by his open-mindedness and his ability to think in ecosystems. What moves me most today is his strategic thinking, unwavering commitment, and profound love for nature. Our shared mission to regenerate 50,000 hectares of degraded land in Portugal by 2035 goes far beyond business — it is rooted in a deep concern for life on Earth and for the future we leave to the next generations.”
Cristina Silva Bastos, CEO, EarthWise Alliance and co-founder, Bioma
Let’s talk
I’m excited to learn what you are excited about.
