A harbour for business between two countries

CCINP is the product of a dream: a port for the Portuguese in the Netherlands. It was designed by Marisa Monteiro Borsboom, who joined forces with Dutch entrepreneur Diana Oord to create a project that, while focused on commerce and business, pays attention to the communities themselves – in both countries and around the globe, wherever their diaspora live and wherever their language has left its mark.

Settling in the Hague–Rotterdam area, in the heart of the Randstad, Marisa M. Borsboom established the embryo of what would become CCINP. Without realising it, she followed the example of the relationship between Porto, her hometown, and Rotterdam: in 2001 the two cities were together European Capital of Culture, giving rise to partnerships such as the Casa da Música – the contemporary symbol of Porto, built for the occasion and designed by Rem Koolhaas of the Dutch architecture firm OMA.

Over time, the two entrepreneurs came to understand in depth the challenges of working between the two territories, and the potential of cultural and business differences to become real investment opportunities.

Their physical presence in both territories and their accumulated expertise brought new actors and partners on board – a path that culminated in 2019 in the formalisation of the Chamber of Commerce between the Netherlands and Portugal.