Alvaro Sobrinho

Who is Alvaro Sobrinho?

Álvaro Sobrinho is a prominent Angolan businessman and philanthropist.

In 2000, at the age of 38, Alvaro Sobrinho became one of the directors of Banco Espirito Santo in Lisbon and was tasked with founding the subsidiary branch in Angola, Banco Espirito Santo Angola. Within ten years as CEO of the bank Sobrinho had developed the bank to be larger than its parent business and one of the leading banks in Sub Saharan Africa. Throughout his time, Sobrinho received multiple awards, including the World Finance award as the Best Bank in Angola in 2009, and Global Finance Magazine’s award as the Best Bank in Angola in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

In 2013, Sobrinho took charge of Banco Valor Angola, the country’s leading emerging bank, and now acts as Executive Chairman. The bank has already opened branches in country, and in 2013 announced that it would be actively expanding it’s partnerships to aid business across Africa’s frontier markets and to support new ideas and Africa’s entrepreneurs, through innovative technologies and small loans.

Sobrinho’s business investments also cover the telecommunications and media industries, with major investments in YooMee Africa and the international Newshold group respectively, as well as a large number of additional ventures including publishing, manufacturing and the travel industry. In 2013 Sobrinho also became a major shareholder in Sporting Clube de Portugal.