When military pride comes to companies, this is Portugal NTN
When seven years ago João Neves and Domingos Pires needed 25 years of military life back, what they wanted was to remain active, but the need to hire someone changed their destiny: they had to create a company, a solution they never had. idealized. And that was how Natur Thoughts – Turismo de Natureza, Lda. was created, which today operates in the market under the brand Portugal NTN.
They entered the Military Academy when I was 18 years old and this dictated a common path, having even participated in missions abroad. But the passage to the reserve took them back to Trás-os-Montes origins: João Neves is from Chaves and Domingos Pires, from Mirandela, where the adventure company was born.
They now employ ten full-time people, divided into three business areas: Consultancy, for the design and implementation of approved walking routes, centers for cycling it’s from trail running. In this segment, they are also developing a mobile application (Feel) for tourism in general and, in particular, for recovered, inclusive and sensory walking routes. They are also contents and image related to the territories where the activities take place.
A second segment, attribution by Walking, aims at the elaboration of structured programs, lasting from 1 to 15 days, with a focus on walks and experiences linked to the region’s endogenous products.
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Finally, an Adventure area takes customers to the practice of walking, Team consolidation and workshops linked to mountain activities.
The Walking segment is more aimed at the foreign market, while Adventure is more aimed at the national market and companies. Consulting’s part, on the other hand, is designed mainly to respond to public entities, such as city councils or protected areas, explains Domingos Pires.
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With this diversified offer, a company is able to cancel out the effects of an undesirable seasonality and guarantee the market for the whole year, throughout the country and also abroad.
In the area of Walking, for example, they work in Trás-os-Montes, Douro, Lisbon and Algarve. In Adventure, it’s more in Trás-os-Montes, on the island of Pico, in Spain, France and Switzerland, for now.
All activities have been ensuring profit since the start of the company and even the pandemic has served to increase the volume of business. “We had to stop, like everyone else, but we readjusted the company to see what we could control to keep working. So we invested in more material resources and more people to be able to offer new products.”
Always with the same weapon: having “happy workers”. Hence the set of perks: no one works on a Friday afternoon or on the last Friday of each month; the hours are flexible and it is the worker who defines them according to the actions to be carried out; the worker also participates in choosing all the equipment that the company makes available (clothing, computer and appliances); specific training is guaranteed and is paid 100% by the company; wages are “above average” for the industry; there is an additional health insurance and the food allowance is 7.63 euros; “if the employee corresponds”, a salary increase is guaranteed every three years (it has been annual, according to the manager); on holidays and Christmas, there are productivity bonuses.
Domingos Pires explains: “There is a fundamental factor: everyone involved in the company has to feel that they are in a family, that they are part of the same team, they have to defend the same values. Everyone has to feel the company as their own. the spirit: to tremendously raise your standard of performance. The company has to be felt as a mission and not just a job.”