- Three years of general management grounding: strategy, operations, accounting and finance.
- Led a team through the Global Management Challenge in two consecutive years — 2nd nationally in 2019, 3rd in 2020.
Lisbon / Luanda · Finance × Data × AI
João Diogo
AleixoFounder, analyst, builder
I started in spreadsheets and SAP ledgers, and ended up founding an AI company in Luanda. The through-line is the same: take financial and operational mess, and turn it into something a decision can be made from.
- Based
- Lisbon & Luanda
- Built
- Next Sphere AI
- Trained at
- NOVA SBE · Pace NYC
- Works in
- PT · EN · ES
Chapter in focus
2025 — 2026 · Luanda / Lisbon
Next Sphere AI
Founder & CEO
I built an AI company for the industries that actually run Angola's economy — oil & gas and construction — and spent a year doing every job it takes to make that real: research and product direction, training the team, unlocking public funding, and standing on stage at FILDA and TIS Tech to explain why any of it matters.
Siemens
Dev2Grow
ISOR
FILDA
Revista Executivo
TIS Tech
- Directed R&D of AI-powered software for the oil & gas and construction sectors.
- Led digital transformation initiatives and represented the company at Luanda's leading industry events.
- Delivered on-site training for new collaborators in agile development and programming practice.
- Secured access to public funding initiatives supporting non-petroleum industries.
- Built strategic partnerships across Europe and Angola.
The journey
2018 → today
Eleven steps, in order. Filter by the thread you care about, or open any step for the detail.
- Exchange semester in the United States, studying alongside an international cohort in Manhattan.
- Completed the SAP S/4HANA learning academy programme.
- Hands-on SAP FI-CO training through on-the-job delivery.
- Implemented SAP solutions for JD Sports España.
- Master's in Finance at one of Europe's leading business schools, with a specialisation in data and business analytics.
- Quantitative toolkit built here: Python, SQL, R, Stata and SPSS applied to financial problems.
- Prepared financial reports for UK-based clients.
- Analysed monthly and quarterly reports to assess investment fund performance.
- Automated outdated Excel processes with Python, improving efficiency and accuracy.
- Optimised internal tools and processes to improve operational efficiency.
- Developed Power BI dashboards and financial modelling tools supporting strategic decisions.
- Streamlined manager data collection with Excel, VBA and Python, cutting effort during reporting periods.
- Researched public funding and private equity opportunities to support public building projects in Portugal.
- Researched applications of AI across internal departments and processes to uncover efficiency opportunities.
- Optimised internal tools using low-code platforms.
- Collaborated with the Siemens IT India team on multiple development projects.
- Led digital transformation initiatives and represented the company at FILDA, Revista Executivo and TIS Tech in Luanda.
- Directed research and development of AI-powered software for the oil & gas and construction sectors.
- Delivered on-site training for new collaborators in agile development and programming practices.
- Secured access to public funding initiatives supporting non-petroleum industries.
- Built strategic partnerships with Siemens and Dev2Grow in Europe, and ISOR in Angola.
- Strengthened financial analysis and management control across the group with advanced data intelligence techniques.
- Built SQL-driven dashboards and reporting tools that streamlined group financial reporting.
- Delivered Power BI visualisations turning complex financial data into actionable insight.
- Supported multiple companies within the group across Portugal and Angola.
- Executive programme on applying AI to business problems — strategy, deployment and value capture.
- Currently in progress.
Toolkit
What I actually work in
PythonAdvanced
SQLAdvanced
Microsoft Excel & Office suiteAdvanced
Power BIIntermediate
SAP FI · S/4HANAIntermediate
R & JavaScriptIntermediate
StataIntermediate
IBM SPSSIntermediate
PortugueseNative
EnglishBilingual
SpanishIntermediate
FrenchBasic
Certification
SAP FI S/4HANA — certificate issued by Inetum Portugal.
Before all this
Where the habits came from
2019 & 2020
Global Management Challenge
Led a team through two consecutive editions of the strategy competition — 2nd place nationally in 2019, 3rd in 2020.
2010 — 2015
Colégio Militar
Secondary education in economics, and barracks leader: reporting to a commanding officer, spotting inefficiencies, setting objectives and getting a group to hit them.
5 years · 2016
Jujitsu
Five years on the mat, 2nd place in the National Ne-Waza Championship, 2016.
Get in touch
Two countries, two numbers. WhatsApp is usually the fastest.