The IPBN Master Class Series Explained

From SEO to Taxes, to Grants and Business Planning...

During the height of 2021’s lockdown, the IPBN created its first-ever Master Class Series in which we aimed to give our members practical tools they could use to apply to their business or personal growth while ensuring ongoing support for our members during these particularly turbulent times. Since we were all locked inside our homes as the coronavirus numbers raged on, we felt it appropriate to promote using the time to gain insights from the professionals on what we could be doing differently now that will positively affect business in the long term. 

Thanks to the wealth of experts from various fields within the IPBN network, there was neither a shortage of ideas for classes and webinars nor a shortage of volunteers to share their expertise.  

In January, The IPBN’s Algarve Committee hosted the webinar entitled, “Supporting Your Business During these Difficult Times” in which Committee member Carolyn McKeown of Shebang Events & PR Management interviewed keynote speaker Andre Leman, CEO of SLAM, a consultancy and marketing firm based in the Algarve capital, Faro on the topic of business recovery and growth in 2021. Considering that Leman foresaw a two-year recovery period for Portugal, it was important to discuss what could be done now in terms of upcoming legislation, funding, grants, tax relief, and more. Leman said, “I do believe that the future of our small economy depends on the relationships we have with other countries…and the globalization issues [therein]…Buying locally is difficult because if everybody goes back to looking inside their own countries from a commercial perspective it goes against the global economy of the EU…Portugal should remind themselves that the money we are getting now is coming out of the EU’s pockets.” Watch the video below for more. 

Early in March, the IPBN invited the award-winning top 5% Google premier partner agency Core Optimisation’s Co-Founder Caroline Dunlea and Matilde Blanc, the company’s Digital Marketing Account Manager to lead a Master Class in SEO. Attendees who were looking to take their online presence to the next level got the help they needed in understanding Search Engine Optimisation, Paid Search Advertising, and Conversion Rate Optimisation. All in all, the IPBN’s goal to help our members use digital marketing to reach their customer base was a huge success. Dunlea told attendees,“Questions you might want to ask yourself to identify the right channel mix for you (to grow online engagement) is for example…if I’m a B2B, there’s little good in me going out on Facebook and more point in me going out on LinkedIn. It’s about weighing up what makes sense for you and your business.”  Check out the video here for more insights.

In February and March, we also had the priviledge to offer Master Classes to our members in partnership with IPBN members Vale do Lobo and Mark Downey who helped us keep our members respectively connected, active, fit, positive and energised and improve their presence & speech online. See details here

July brought with it a lot of changes: new COVID restrictions, and new taxes on imported goods into the EU. To help IPBN members navigate this new territory, IPBN Head of the Fiscal Board Pedro Texeira, Senior Partner of TaxLibris explained The New VAT Rules affecting EU e-commerce in which there is no purchase limit on VAT tax. He said, “Now, due to the huge reduction of these limits, tax authorities will be able to double-check online sales and most of the small and micro companies in Europe will be forced to start with this registration through the new rules system. The system is not new, but now it is applicable to everybody.”

We learned a lot over the first six months of 2021, and we are looking forward to the second half of the year, as it will bring a fresh new assortment of Master Classes with it, thanks to the IPBN and its dedicated members. The Second Master Class Series is planned to begin this September and go into October. Details will be announced very soon, so stay tuned!