When I founded SEDA more than a decade ago, I was certain of one thing: international education transforms lives in a way that no other learning environment can.

But something was missing. Recognition was lacking.

For many years, exchange programs were seen only as a cultural experience—valuable, yes, but without the academic weight they deserve.

That’s why the PNEI—National International Internship Program—was born.

Not as a product, but as a response to an old problem: how to get Brazil to officially recognize what the whole world already knows—that living and learning abroad develops skills that no classroom alone can offer.

The approval of Law 14.913/2024, which allows exchange programs to be validated as curricular internships, opened a door that had been locked for decades.

And we decided to walk through that door first.

As CEO of SEDA, I have always believed that knowledge gains strength when it connects to practice.

The PNEI does just that: it integrates technical study, international experience, and supervised practical application.

Students don’t just learn English—they learn to solve real problems, work with people from different cultures, adapt, and think globally.

It’s an internship that takes place in the world.

This program also marks a new chapter in SEDA’s relationship with Brazil.

We are uniting universities, municipalities, and young people around a project that goes far beyond language: it’s professional training, it’s broadening horizons, it’s a concrete opportunity for global competitiveness.

I have followed thousands of students over the years.

I’ve seen young people arrive insecure, afraid of the unknown, and return confident, mature, and ready to take their place in the market.

Now, for the first time, this transformation can be recognized in documents, in resumes, in academic life, and that changes everything.

The PNEI is not about traveling. It’s about qualifying Brazil through an education that crosses borders.

I always say that true innovation in education lies not in technology, but in the courage to break old paradigms.

And transforming exchange programs into internships is exactly that: a new way of looking at learning, aligned with the future and what the world demands of tomorrow’s professionals.

If you are a student, public manager, or representative of an educational institution, this is the time to act. We are building something that can redefine Brazil’s role in the global education landscape.

And, like every great movement, it begins like this: with a bridge built between what already exists and what we can still become.

Starting over from scratch is a test of humility. No matter how many achievements you’ve accumulated before—when the context changes, you become a learner again.

And it is at this moment that life begins to teach the lessons that are not in books or mentorships: the invisible lessons that only those who have started over understand.

When I decided to build a new life in Ireland, I had no idea how much that new beginning would change my way of seeing the world.

I left behind my comfort zone, familiarity, contacts, and I needed to learn everything again.

In the beginning, the instinct is to resist: to try to repeat what has already worked.

But starting over is precisely the opposite of that. It is accepting that the scenario has changed and that you will also need to change with it.

The first invisible lesson is about patience.

The success you built before doesn’t automatically accompany you; it needs to be rebuilt.

And this process is slow, frustrating, and often lonely.

But it is also what strengthens the foundation of the new cycle because each step taken is achieved with awareness and purpose.

The second lesson is about identity.

Starting over makes you question who you are without the titles, without the results, and without the applause.

You learn to see yourself not for what you have, but for what you are still capable of creating.

And, when everything seems uncertain, it is this essence that keeps you standing.

And the third lesson is about confidence.

When you start over, there is no manual or guarantees.

But there is something that no one can take away: the experience of having already succeeded before.

It doesn’t appear on your resume, but it lives inside you and is the silent fuel that keeps you going.

Today, I understand that starting over is not going backwards; it is maturing.

Each new phase of my life began with a loss, but ended with a greater gain.

Because starting over, however difficult it may seem, is life’s way of reminding us that there is still more to learn, create, and be.

Whenever we look back, the decisions seem obvious. The path seems linear, the reasoning logical, and the results inevitable.

But the truth is, at the moment we made them, nothing was clear. And, most of the time, the best decisions I’ve made were born precisely from uncertainty.

When I decided to start a business outside of Brazil, I didn’t have all the answers—in fact, I barely had the right questions.

What I did have was a feeling that standing still would be riskier than trying.

Uncertainty kept me awake at night, but it also kept me alive.

It was uncertainty that forced me to learn, to observe, and to reinvent myself in a country that, until then, wasn’t mine.

Throughout the journey, I realized that clarity rarely comes before action.

You don’t find security and then take the step—it’s the opposite. You take the step, stumble, adjust your path, and in the process, build the security you were looking for.

That’s how it was with SEDA, that’s how it was in every new phase of my life.

The decisions that most transformed the company — and myself — were born in moments of doubt, not certainty.

Uncertainty, over time, proved to be a great teacher. It taught me that courage is not the absence of fear, but confidence in purpose.

It’s looking at the unknown and moving forward, even without having all the guarantees.

Because, deep down, that’s what differentiates those who dream from those who achieve: the willingness to act even when the scenario is still unclear.

Today, when someone asks me what the secret to my best decisions was, I answer without hesitation: it was not waiting to be certain.

It was trusting the process, the people, and the purpose that guided me.

After all, it is uncertainty that forces us to evolve.

It is uncertainty that tests our conviction and shapes our vision. And, if there is one thing I have learned in all these years leading SEDA, it is that the fear of making mistakes paralyzes much more than the mistake itself.

Because those who wait for the perfect moment to act almost always arrive too late.

Starting over is a verb that most people avoid. It carries a weight of uncertainty, fear, of giving up what you know to dive into what you can’t control.

But those who have had to start over from scratch, whether in another country, in a new business, or in a new life cycle, know that it is in this space between what is lost and what is rebuilt that the most transformative lessons reside.

When I left Brazil and began my journey in Ireland, I thought I was just changing my address.

In practice, I was changing my identity. From entrepreneur to learner, from speaker to listener, from someone who had answers to someone who needed to ask questions.

It was uncomfortable, often lonely, but it was also liberating. Because starting over forces you to see the real value of things: work, people, patience, time.

The invisible lessons of starting over don’t appear in spreadsheets or motivational speeches.

They manifest themselves when you learn to ask for help without shame, to celebrate small victories, and to understand that the pace of things isn’t always yours.

You discover that humility is a type of intelligence and that haste is the greatest enemy of those who want to build something that lasts.

Starting over also teaches you to trust processes more than plans.

Because plans fail. Processes mature.

And, little by little, you realize that starting over isn’t a step backward, it’s a reinvention.

Each mistake becomes raw material for the next success, and each obstacle teaches you to adjust your perspective, to react better, to understand what really matters.

Today, after so many restarts—personal, professional, and cultural—I’ve learned to respect the timing of things.

I’ve learned that life isn’t a straight line of achievements, but a sequence of beginnings and restarts that test, shape, and strengthen us.

And if there’s one thing only those who have started from scratch understand, it’s this: success isn’t about never falling, but about learning to get up wiser, calmer, and more whole each time.

For a long time, we associate leadership with the ability to do well. À ability to inspire, to move people through powerful speeches.

But after years in front of SEDA College, I discovered that words do not support anything if they are not accompanied by coherence.

Leading is less about what is said and more about what is done when no one is listening.

I do not silence the difficult decisions, the delicate conversations and the small daily attitudes that a culture is built, or is lost.

When you start to undertake things outside of Brazil, you need to learn to lead people of different origins, cultures and mentalities.

It is not enough to falar about purpose or values; I needed to live these values ​​in every gesture.

Because, when there is diversity in the team, beautiful speech can impress, but it is coherence that generates confidence.

The coherence is the invisible elo between the leader and the time.

This is what makes people credit their decisions, even when they do not agree with all of them.

A coherent leader does not need to repeat at all times “acreditem em” — he demonstrates, by means of consistency and transparency, that it is someone in whom it is worth accrediting.

I learned that leadership comes not by example.

Not an idealized example, but not a human one: one who admits when he errs, who asks for help, who listens more than he fails.

In a world where images are valued, being consistent is a source of courage.

Because it is easier to construct a narrative than to support a truth.

In SEDA, I saw firsthand how much is so different.

When a student or collaborator perceives that the leader is in agreement with what he asks — even in moments of crisis — or the environment changes.

Confidence grows, motivation appears and the team aligns not out of obligation, but out of conviction.

It is at this point that the purpose stops being a slogan and becomes a living culture.

The coherence also separates leaders from chefs.

Or chefe cobra; or leader inspires.

The chef wants results; o leader build people who achieve results.

This construction requires time, patience and, above all, consistency.

In fact, leadership is about being predictable in the best sense of the word: knowing that, given any situation, you will continue to act in accordance with your principles.

Because sometimes we don’t know that it is higher — that it remains inteiro when everything around it changes.

Lead a daily exercise of coherence.

Perhaps the greatest praise a leader can receive is not “he is inspiring”, but “he is confident”.

Because inspiration enchants, but coherence that sustains.

For years, I believed that entrepreneurship was synonymous with opening companies, taking on risks and generating profits. But, over the course of my journey, I discovered that there is an even more powerful type of undertaking — the one that transforms people.

And for this reason I say, with conviction: educating is the most entrepreneurial that exists.

Undertake and identify a dream and create a solution. Educating is exactly this, but not a deeper level.

Quem ensina, form futures. E quem form futures, mute or rumo de tudo que vem depois.

At SEDA, I learned that each student is an impact project. An investment of time, energy and faith. He does not know what he is going to build, but he believes that, in some way, he is going to multiply or that he learns.

Educating requires the same courage of an entrepreneur. Start without guarantees, test paths, err, correct and try again. Engage with different people every day, balance purpose and result, inspire without promising achievements.

The difference is that the end, or “profit” of education is not measured in numbers, but rather in stories.

When I founded SEDA, my goal was never just to teach English, but to teach self-accreditation.

Seeing a student becoming insecure and coming out confident is the greater validation that learning is the true driving force of social transformation.

This is what every entrepreneur should understand: the most sustainable growth is what begins within the people.

Companies go bankrupt, markets change, technologies change. But knowledge, when shared, multiplies.

It is my pleasure to say that education is the only thing capable of generating infinite value because what is learned can change the world.

I believe that every great entrepreneur, at some point, needs to become an educator.

Not necessarily in a classroom, but as a way to inspire, share and build knowledge.

Because, not fim, undertake and educate the same purpose: to prove that the future can be better and aspire to make it real.

When SEDA was founded in 2009, the objective was simple: to offer an English school where foreign students felt truly supported.

At that time, most schools dealt with international students as a number. I wanted something different — a space where I could learn English as a natural consequence of feeling part of a community.

The beginning was modest: a bright room, few teachers and a group of students who accredited the proposal.

But, from the beginning, there was something greater behind it. The idea that education is about belonging, and that studying outside the country is both transformative and challenging.

And it was precisely that human spirit that guided us when the first difficulties appeared.

Growing up in a foreign country requires adaptation. We have to understand Irish culture, adjust processes, deal with different legislation and, at the same time, maintain the Brazilian essence: embrace, embrace, transform.

With each course formed, we realized that the learner did not end in the diploma — he came there. Or someone returned home with more than a language: he brought with him a new vision of the world.

This is the perception that we need to take the next step. SEDA stopped being just a school and became a global educational ecosystem, connecting learning, technology and opportunities.

We create online platforms, professional training projects and partnerships with companies that serve the same purpose: preparing people for a world without borders.

Behind the scenes, this growth was built with many more doubts than certainties.

Forms of adjustments, recommendations and difficult decisions. But in every obstacle there was a lição — and, mainly, a confirmation that we are on the right path.

Now, when I see former students undertaking, teaching, traveling and transforming their own realities, I understand that SEDA is not a property or a brand: it is a movement.

A movement that was born from a personal dream and became a collective purpose.

And there is something that I learned throughout the day and that a business only becomes global when it stops talking about itself and starts talking about everyone who credits it.

When I decided to start a business in Ireland, I didn’t imagine the size of the challenge I was about to face. It wasn’t just about opening a company.

It was about rebuilding myself in a place where nothing belonged to me—not the language, not the culture, not the way of thinking.

Starting a business outside your country is an experience that teaches you more about humanity than about business. In the beginning, I believed that all it took was a good idea and hard work.

Then I understood that the real difference lay in something much simpler—and much more difficult: understanding people. I learned that each culture has its own rhythm, its own codes, and, above all, its own fears.

And that leading international teams requires empathy before strategy. When you come from abroad, you need to prove twice as much, not just competence, but intention. That’s how we built SEDA College: not by selling courses, but trust.

There were times when I thought about giving up. The bureaucracy seemed insurmountable, the costs high, the cultural differences immense.

But it was there that I realized the strength of a value I carry to this day: resilience is the universal language of entrepreneurs. No matter where you are — Ireland, Brazil, or any other country — those who remain are those who understand that falling is part of the process.

The international experience also showed me that thinking globally isn’t about speaking fluent English or opening a branch abroad.

It’s about adopting a mindset open to the new, to mistakes, and to constant learning. It’s about recognizing that a good leader isn’t the one who has all the answers, but the one who knows how to listen to different questions.

Today, when I look at SEDA’s trajectory and the hundreds of stories that have crossed our path, I see that the greatest learning didn’t come from financial results, but from people.

From each student who crossed the world to change their life, from each employee who believed in the purpose, from each mistake that forced us to mature.

Building a global company from a country that wasn’t my own taught me that borders aren’t lines on a map — they’re tests of vision, empathy, and persistence. And those who learn to overcome them never see the world the same way again.

As an angel investor and enthusiast of the startup ecosystem, I have closely followed the rise of innovative solutions that are revolutionizing compliance with standards and regulations in the financial sector.

In an increasingly dynamic and demanding market, the role of regtechs – startups that develop technology to facilitate compliance – becomes essential to reduce costs and mitigate the risk of penalties.

The digital transformation of compliance

Over the years, I have witnessed the evolution of traditional compliance systems, which depended on manual processes and human interpreters, to automated and intelligent solutions.

This transformation has not only made processes more efficient, but has also brought greater security to financial institutions.

After all, automation allows the detection of inconsistencies and risks in real time, which means that organizations can act preventively, avoiding sanctions that could compromise their reputation and financial health.

In the meantime, I have invested in companies that are betting on this disruptive change, and I can confirm that the integration of technologies such as artificial intelligence and data analysis has been decisive in making compliance more agile and accurate.

By adopting these solutions, banks and financial institutions are not only complying with regulations more efficiently, but also gaining a competitive advantage in the market.

Current cases that inspire confidence

Among the cases that impressed me, I would highlight Idwall, a Brazilian startup that has developed identity verification and fraud prevention solutions.

Idwall uses advanced algorithms to validate customer documents and data, ensuring that financial transactions occur in a secure environment and in accordance with current regulations.

This is a clear example of how technology can simplify compliance with complex regulations, while increasing transaction security.

Another relevant case is that of ClearSale, which initially stood out in combating fraud in e-commerce transactions and later expanded its operations to offer robust risk analysis solutions for the financial sector.

ClearSale’s innovative approach, combined with a machine learning methodology, has enabled financial institutions to optimize their processes and significantly reduce costs associated with fraud and penalties.

On an international level, I cannot fail to mention ComplyAdvantage.

This company has attracted global attention by offering a platform that uses artificial intelligence to monitor suspicious activities and ensure that institutions are in compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulations.

These examples reinforce the importance of investing in technologies that enable more efficient compliance management.

The Role of the Investor in the New Era of Compliance

For me, as an angel investor, investing in regtech startups is not just a financial strategy, but a vision of the future.

I believe that by supporting companies that innovate in regulatory management, I am contributing to the construction of a more ethical, transparent and secure financial environment.

In addition to reducing operating costs, this trend offers an extra layer of confidence for investors and consumers, expanding the sector’s growth potential.

The digital transformation of compliance, through innovative technological solutions, represents a watershed moment for the financial sector.

I am convinced that the future of the financial market will be shaped by this synergy between technology and regulation, a path that promises to reduce risks and open new doors to innovation and sustainable growth.

When we talk about education, it is inevitable to mention Finland. After all, the country has one of the best education systems in the world, if not the best.

As an entrepreneur and passionate about innovation, I always look for references that can inspire new paths, and that is why I see the Finnish education system as an example that deserves to be replicated on a global scale.

Below, I share the main lessons that every country should learn from them.

Equality: education for all

Finland is based on the idea that education should be accessible to everyone. This is not just a theory; it is a practice implemented with excellence. In practice, all schools are free, from primary to higher education.

Students also receive free meals, textbooks and school transport, reducing inequalities that compromise learning.

I see this approach as essential. In many countries, the cost of education is a barrier that prevents millions of children and young people from reaching their potential. Finland shows that, by investing in equality, we create real opportunities for everyone.

Teachers as pillars of the system

Another thing that impresses me is the way Finland values ​​its teachers. Teaching there is a highly respected and admired profession.

All teachers must have a master’s degree and undergo rigorous training. In addition, they have the autonomy to create their own classes, which motivates them to constantly innovate.

In Brazil, for example, we still need to work hard to value our educators. Finland teaches us that investing in the quality and autonomy of teachers is investing in the future of a country.

Curriculum flexibility and multidisciplinary learning

In Finland, teaching is not limited to isolated subjects. There is a focus on interdisciplinary projects, where students learn in a connected way, applying knowledge to real problems.

For example, when studying climate change, students explore concepts from science, geography and public policy in an integrated way.

This methodology goes far beyond memorization. It prepares young people for the real world, stimulating critical thinking and problem-solving. Imagine the impact an approach like this would have if it were implemented in other countries!

Fewer tests, more learning

Another distinguishing feature is the low emphasis on standardized testing. In Finland, the goal is to assess learning throughout the process, rather than just through a final exam. As a result, students do not feel pressured, and learning becomes something natural and enjoyable.

If we could adopt this approach elsewhere, I believe we could reduce student stress and foster a true passion for learning.

Student well-being

Finally, Finland understands that well-being is a fundamental part of academic success. The system prioritizes a balance between study, leisure, and rest.

Workloads are reduced, and breaks are longer, allowing children time to be children. It is inspiring to see an education system that does not treat students as grade-producing machines, but as complete individuals.

As an entrepreneur in the education sector, I see the importance of bringing these principles into broader debates. After all, we are not just educating students, but future citizens who will change the world.