What Twelve Years as CEO Taught Me About Arriving Well in Portugal
Thought Leadership | July, 2026
Relocating to Portugal looks simple and is not: an international family arriving in the Algarve will typically deal with nine different professionals who never speak to each other. After thirty years as a lawyer and twelve as CEO of the Awilhelmsen Group's Portuguese operations, running a five-star resort in the Golden Triangle, Sílvia Biscaia founded Biscaia & Co, a Private Office in Almancil, to be the single point of contact she spent a career becoming for one shareholder. These are the lessons behind it.
From lawyer to CEO in the Algarve
In 1995, I joined one of the Algarve's established law firms, João Nabais e Associados, where I would spend nineteen years, rising from associate to partner. My practice was real estate, corporate and commercial work, the legal machinery of a region that international families were quietly making their own.
In 2014, a Norwegian investment group asked me to lead all of its Portuguese operations. I had been a lawyer in the Algarve for more than twenty years by then, and I had worked with the Awilhelmsen Group since 2008, on the licensing of their resort between Vale do Lobo and Quinta do Lago. I thought I knew what international investors needed from Portugal. I was partly right.
What I knew, as a lawyer, was the legal side of arriving: the purchase structures, the tax registrations, the licences, the contracts. What I learned, as a CEO, was everything else, and everything else turned out to be most of it.
The machinery of moving to Portugal
Running a five-star resort teaches you a particular discipline. A guest does not care that the laundry supplier changed or that a permit took three months. A guest cares that the towels are there and the pool is warm. Over twelve years, delivering two residential projects from licence to handover and managing properties for owners from a dozen countries, I came to see that international families arriving in Portugal are, in this one respect, exactly like hotel guests. They do not want to manage the machinery. They want the result.
And yet the machinery is what Portugal hands them. A family deciding to move here will typically deal with a lawyer, a tax advisor, an estate agent, a bank, an architect, a builder, an interior designer, a property manager and several public departments, none of whom talk to each other. Each is often excellent. Together, they are a web of conversations that the client is left to coordinate, in a language they may not speak, under rules they cannot be expected to know.
For twelve years, my job was to be the point where all of those threads met, for one shareholder. The group made a decision in Oslo; my team in Almancil turned it into a licensed, built, furnished, managed reality. The shareholder never chased a permit. That was the job.
Three lessons from those years that stayed with me.
The first is that trust is operational before it is emotional. Clients do not trust you because you say the right things at dinner. They trust you because the thing you said would happen on Tuesday happened on Tuesday. Scandinavian shareholders are demanding in precisely this way, and it is a good school.
The second is that legal thinking belongs at the beginning. Most expensive problems I have seen in thirty years of practice were not caused by bad intentions but by decisions taken before anyone asked a lawyer the right question. When the legal analysis comes first, before the offer, before the design, before the move, it stops being a cost and becomes the foundation.
The third is that this region rewards patience. The Algarve looks informal; it is not. It runs on relationships built over years, with municipalities, builders, neighbours, suppliers. There is no shortcut to thirty years of knowing who to call. There is only having spent the thirty years.
From one group to many families: Biscaia & Co
When the group concluded its cycle in Portugal, the natural question was what to do with all of this, the method, the network, the standard. The answer became Biscaia & Co: a Private Office in Almancil that does for many families what I spent twelve years doing for one group. A single point of contact for the whole of life in Portugal, legal, fiscal, property, projects, design, art, management, relocation, with the client relationship held in one pair of hands.
Portugal is simple to love. It is complex to navigate. After thirty years in the law and twelve running an international group's operations here, I believe the navigation is a craft in its own right, and that families deserve to arrive the way our shareholder's projects were delivered: calmly, completely, and on Tuesday.
Author: Sílvia Biscaia.
Sílvia Biscaia is the founder of Biscaia & Co, a Private Office in Almancil, in the Algarve's Golden Triangle, providing legal, fiscal, property, development, design, management and relocation services to international families through a single point of contact. A lawyer for over thirty years and former CEO of the Awilhelmsen Group's Portuguese operations, she is also founding partner of BVA — Biscaia, Viegas e Associados. As an artist, she shows her work at the office.
FAQs
Why is relocating to Portugal more complex than it looks?
An international family relocating to Portugal typically deals with around nine different professionals: a lawyer, a tax advisor, an estate agent, a bank, an architect, a builder, an interior designer, a property manager and several public departments. Each may be excellent, but they rarely speak to each other, leaving the family to coordinate everything in a language they may not speak and under rules they cannot be expected to know.
When should I involve a lawyer when buying property or moving to Portugal?
At the very beginning, before making an offer, starting a design or planning the move. In Sílvia Biscaia's thirty years of legal practice in the Algarve, most expensive problems were not caused by bad intentions but by decisions taken before anyone asked a lawyer the right question. When legal analysis comes first, it becomes the foundation rather than a cost.
Why do local relationships matter so much in the Algarve?
The Algarve looks informal, but it is not. Getting things done, from licensing to construction, depends on relationships built over years with municipalities, builders, suppliers and neighbours. There is no shortcut to that network other than time spent in the region.
What can international families learn from how a five-star resort is run?
Like hotel guests, international families arriving in Portugal do not want to manage the machinery behind the scenes; they want the result. The discipline of running a five-star resort, where every supplier, permit and service is coordinated invisibly, is the same discipline a well-managed relocation requires.
What experience does Sílvia Biscaia have in the Algarve?
Sílvia Biscaia spent nineteen years at the Algarve law firm João Nabais e Associados, rising from associate to partner in real estate, corporate and commercial law. From 2014 she led all Portuguese operations of the Norwegian Awilhelmsen Group, running a five-star resort in the Golden Triangle, delivering two residential projects from licence to handover and managing properties for owners from a dozen countries.
Why did Sílvia Biscaia found Biscaia & Co?
When the Awilhelmsen Group concluded its cycle in Portugal, Sílvia Biscaia founded Biscaia & Co to do for many families what she had spent twelve years doing for one group: acting as a single point of contact for the whole of life in Portugal, from legal and fiscal matters to property, design, art, management and relocation.
What is Biscaia & Co?
Biscaia & Co is a Private Office in Almancil, in the Algarve's Golden Triangle, serving international families and investors with interests in Portugal. Through its own expertise and a trusted network of partners, it coordinates everything a family needs here, legal, fiscal, property, development, design, management and relocation, through a single point of contact.
Is art a tax-efficient asset in Portugal?
For private collectors, art enjoys favourable treatment in Portugal: there is no wealth tax, transfers to a spouse or children are exempt from stamp duty, and gains on sales by private individuals currently fall outside taxable capital gains categories. Tax law changes and every situation is different, so specific decisions should always be preceded by qualified advice.
What does a Private Office do?
A Private Office acts as a family's single point of contact for an entire area of life — in Biscaia & Co's case, life in Portugal. Rather than the family coordinating a lawyer, agent, architect, builder and property manager separately, the Private Office selects, briefs and supervises them all, and holds one relationship with the client.
What Twelve Years as CEO Taught Me About Arriving Well in Portugal
Thought Leadership | July, 2026
Relocating to Portugal looks simple and is not: an international family arriving in the Algarve will typically deal with nine different professionals who never speak to each other. After thirty years as a lawyer and twelve as CEO of the Awilhelmsen Group's Portuguese operations, running a five-star resort in the Golden Triangle, Sílvia Biscaia founded Biscaia & Co, a Private Office in Almancil, to be the single point of contact she spent a career becoming for one shareholder. These are the lessons behind it.
From lawyer to CEO in the Algarve
In 1995, I joined one of the Algarve's established law firms, João Nabais e Associados, where I would spend nineteen years, rising from associate to partner. My practice was real estate, corporate and commercial work, the legal machinery of a region that international families were quietly making their own.
In 2014, a Norwegian investment group asked me to lead all of its Portuguese operations. I had been a lawyer in the Algarve for more than twenty years by then, and I had worked with the Awilhelmsen Group since 2008, on the licensing of their resort between Vale do Lobo and Quinta do Lago. I thought I knew what international investors needed from Portugal. I was partly right.
What I knew, as a lawyer, was the legal side of arriving: the purchase structures, the tax registrations, the licences, the contracts. What I learned, as a CEO, was everything else, and everything else turned out to be most of it.
The machinery of moving to Portugal
Running a five-star resort teaches you a particular discipline. A guest does not care that the laundry supplier changed or that a permit took three months. A guest cares that the towels are there and the pool is warm. Over twelve years, delivering two residential projects from licence to handover and managing properties for owners from a dozen countries, I came to see that international families arriving in Portugal are, in this one respect, exactly like hotel guests. They do not want to manage the machinery. They want the result.
And yet the machinery is what Portugal hands them. A family deciding to move here will typically deal with a lawyer, a tax advisor, an estate agent, a bank, an architect, a builder, an interior designer, a property manager and several public departments, none of whom talk to each other. Each is often excellent. Together, they are a web of conversations that the client is left to coordinate, in a language they may not speak, under rules they cannot be expected to know.
For twelve years, my job was to be the point where all of those threads met, for one shareholder. The group made a decision in Oslo; my team in Almancil turned it into a licensed, built, furnished, managed reality. The shareholder never chased a permit. That was the job.
Three lessons from those years that stayed with me.
The first is that trust is operational before it is emotional. Clients do not trust you because you say the right things at dinner. They trust you because the thing you said would happen on Tuesday happened on Tuesday. Scandinavian shareholders are demanding in precisely this way, and it is a good school.
The second is that legal thinking belongs at the beginning. Most expensive problems I have seen in thirty years of practice were not caused by bad intentions but by decisions taken before anyone asked a lawyer the right question. When the legal analysis comes first, before the offer, before the design, before the move, it stops being a cost and becomes the foundation.
The third is that this region rewards patience. The Algarve looks informal; it is not. It runs on relationships built over years, with municipalities, builders, neighbours, suppliers. There is no shortcut to thirty years of knowing who to call. There is only having spent the thirty years.
From one group to many families: Biscaia & Co
When the group concluded its cycle in Portugal, the natural question was what to do with all of this, the method, the network, the standard. The answer became Biscaia & Co: a Private Office in Almancil that does for many families what I spent twelve years doing for one group. A single point of contact for the whole of life in Portugal, legal, fiscal, property, projects, design, art, management, relocation, with the client relationship held in one pair of hands.
Portugal is simple to love. It is complex to navigate. After thirty years in the law and twelve running an international group's operations here, I believe the navigation is a craft in its own right, and that families deserve to arrive the way our shareholder's projects were delivered: calmly, completely, and on Tuesday.
Author: Sílvia Biscaia.
Sílvia Biscaia is the founder of Biscaia & Co, a Private Office in Almancil, in the Algarve's Golden Triangle, providing legal, fiscal, property, development, design, management and relocation services to international families through a single point of contact. A lawyer for over thirty years and former CEO of the Awilhelmsen Group's Portuguese operations, she is also founding partner of BVA — Biscaia, Viegas e Associados. As an artist, she shows her work at the office.
FAQs
Why is relocating to Portugal more complex than it looks?
An international family relocating to Portugal typically deals with around nine different professionals: a lawyer, a tax advisor, an estate agent, a bank, an architect, a builder, an interior designer, a property manager and several public departments. Each may be excellent, but they rarely speak to each other, leaving the family to coordinate everything in a language they may not speak and under rules they cannot be expected to know.
When should I involve a lawyer when buying property or moving to Portugal?
At the very beginning, before making an offer, starting a design or planning the move. In Sílvia Biscaia's thirty years of legal practice in the Algarve, most expensive problems were not caused by bad intentions but by decisions taken before anyone asked a lawyer the right question. When legal analysis comes first, it becomes the foundation rather than a cost.
Why do local relationships matter so much in the Algarve?
The Algarve looks informal, but it is not. Getting things done, from licensing to construction, depends on relationships built over years with municipalities, builders, suppliers and neighbours. There is no shortcut to that network other than time spent in the region.
What can international families learn from how a five-star resort is run?
Like hotel guests, international families arriving in Portugal do not want to manage the machinery behind the scenes; they want the result. The discipline of running a five-star resort, where every supplier, permit and service is coordinated invisibly, is the same discipline a well-managed relocation requires.
What experience does Sílvia Biscaia have in the Algarve?
Sílvia Biscaia spent nineteen years at the Algarve law firm João Nabais e Associados, rising from associate to partner in real estate, corporate and commercial law. From 2014 she led all Portuguese operations of the Norwegian Awilhelmsen Group, running a five-star resort in the Golden Triangle, delivering two residential projects from licence to handover and managing properties for owners from a dozen countries.
Why did Sílvia Biscaia found Biscaia & Co?
When the Awilhelmsen Group concluded its cycle in Portugal, Sílvia Biscaia founded Biscaia & Co to do for many families what she had spent twelve years doing for one group: acting as a single point of contact for the whole of life in Portugal, from legal and fiscal matters to property, design, art, management and relocation.
What is Biscaia & Co?
Biscaia & Co is a Private Office in Almancil, in the Algarve's Golden Triangle, serving international families and investors with interests in Portugal. Through its own expertise and a trusted network of partners, it coordinates everything a family needs here, legal, fiscal, property, development, design, management and relocation, through a single point of contact.
Is art a tax-efficient asset in Portugal?
For private collectors, art enjoys favourable treatment in Portugal: there is no wealth tax, transfers to a spouse or children are exempt from stamp duty, and gains on sales by private individuals currently fall outside taxable capital gains categories. Tax law changes and every situation is different, so specific decisions should always be preceded by qualified advice.
What does a Private Office do?
A Private Office acts as a family's single point of contact for an entire area of life — in Biscaia & Co's case, life in Portugal. Rather than the family coordinating a lawyer, agent, architect, builder and property manager separately, the Private Office selects, briefs and supervises them all, and holds one relationship with the client.
