João Costa, who led the restructuring process at DanCake as CEO for the past four years, announced his departure from the company at the end of the year to pursue new professional challenges, including working with Busy Angels.
“ The company is now in a more solid and sustainable situation compared to the beginning of the project. Sales have increased in practically every country in the world, new distributors with significant growth potential have been negotiated, clients such as Walmart USA and Mercadona have been gained, creating reputational conditions to win new international accounts, and operational results have been substantially improved through a strong dilution of fixed costs. Trust has been regained with customers, suppliers and financial partners, and the respect of our international competitors. It was also possible to create a solid team, implement the necessary management processes and tools to support growth, and make employees believe that the company had a well-defined path, basic elements for the continuity of the recovery process ,” details João Costa.
With the results achieved in 2016, the company's restructuring cycle, which began in 2013, is successfully concluded. During this period, and taking into account a complex situation in international markets, DanCake was able to increase sales from €42 million to €57 million and operating results from €0,5 million to €4 million. “ The successful completion of DanCake's restructuring allows me to enter a new phase of my career, where I will be involved in several business projects, particularly in the area of entrepreneurship, through Busy Angels, of which I have been a founding shareholder and director since 2010 ,” adds João Costa.
Busy Angels is a venture capital investment company, founded in 2010, that focuses on investing in innovative and disruptive startups still in an early stage of development. With a management team and shareholder structure highly experienced in the national and international business world across various industries, Busy Angels currently holds a portfolio of 19 companies in areas ranging from digital and IT to life sciences, from industry to consumer goods. These are mostly projects initiated in Portugal, but always with global ambitions and expansion into new geographies.
João Costa has held the position of CEO of DanCake Portugal since 2013. He is also the founder and director of Busy Angels. Throughout his career, he worked at Beiersdorf, JCDecaux, and PepsiCo, where he spent 19 years, holding various management positions in the beverage and snack sectors in Portugal and other European countries. With extensive experience in management, João Costa is a member of the board of directors of the Forum of Administrators and Business Managers (FAE).
