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Oscar Sousa Marques
President of ALSMA
Oscar is a seasoned manager with over 25 years of experience in international postings. He is currently a Senior Director of Partner Sales at Yext. Previously he was the Regional Director, APAC for myWorld and responsible for the operations in HK, Macau, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. Before that he was the CEO of the inMedia Group, a Macau-based holding company with investments in start-ups and established companies such as Hogo, a digital media agency, Juwai.com, a multi-service platform selling overseas properties to Mainland Chinese, Thadeus London, a luxury goods and services provider based in London and Directel Macau, the official publisher of the local Yellow Pages.
Oscar has a degree in Economics, is a certified Chartered Accountant, and is also the President of ALSMA – Asian Local Search and Media Association.
Q. Oscar, you were in Macau when this whole pandemic started. Was there anything that you did differently every day? Did you have a routine in Macau?
Well, actually in Asia it all started a bit earlier than in Europe. It was mid-February and what I missed the most was meeting people. I was usually traveling a lot, and suddenly you’re just stuck in the same place, doing thousands of zoom calls. I really missed that human touch and hopefully, we will be experiencing it very soon again.
Q. Did you do anything different or start new hobbies during lockdown?
Not much to be honest with you but I did probably, I read a little bit more. Apart from that, it was still kind of a normal working day except all on zoom. I spent more time looking at the screen than before, but I did not have a lot of extra free time.
Q. What kind of books do you like to read?
I would say a little bit of everything, from romances to biographies to comics. You name it, I read it. Everything suits my taste.
Q. If we were to write an autobiography, what would the title be?
Ha, I don’t deserve a biography. As long as I am remembered by my family and friends that is enough.
Q. Do you have any special hobbies or is there something about you that people do not know?
There is one thing that people definitely do not know about me is I cannot tell right from left. If you tell me to go right, there is always a 1 or 2 second delay before it kicks in. I have to think which is right. People who know me a little bit better know this. They laugh because they know that when I’m driving and when they tell me to go left or right, it’s better to give me time or point and say go this way. I just moved to Lisbon, so I am using a lot of GPS, so it is giving me some practice and I am getting there.
Q. What was one of your first jobs?
I was a part- time barman and it was kind of fun. I was still living with my parents, so it was fun and a way to make money but if you ask me to make something now, do not expect anything fancy.
Q. Do you have any special sports activities that you like?
I try to go to the gym. The sport that our family plays is tennis. The four of us play but I am a really bad player. The worst of our family.
I also think I still play rugby, but my kids joke about it and say “Dad, you THINK you still play rugby” just to keep us on the same page.
Q. Do you have a favorite drink?
I definitely love wines.
Q. Do you have a favorite comfort food that you like to eat?
Probably, the easiest one is bread and butter. Aside from that I eat almost everything. I lived in China for 21 years, so you can guess I ate everything. Trust me because some of the things I ate were a little strange. But if I had to have a favorite cuisine it would be Portuguese. But living in Macau we had everything from Indian, Italian, Spanish, or Peruvian. I would not have survived without good cuisine.
Q. And do you cook?
Yes, actually. I can cook. I can do a lot of dishes and many Portuguese dishes. I can do pizza and lots of the normal stuff as long as it is not too complicated.
Q. If you had one message for our Siinda colleagues, partners and friends what would that be?
It is a positive message. We’re going to experience the next roaring twenties. All this pent-up demand that was created by the pandemic is going to explode. The next decade is going to be amazing, it will really be like the roaring twenties of the last century, but you will see things happening a lot faster. People are realizing now that if they do not do it now, they will never do it. We are going to be surprised at how fast we are going to grow economically. It will be positive.