Sofia Calheiros & Associates

What Sofia Calheiros & Associates does

Sofia Calheiros & Associates is a privately held, Lisbon-based HR and leadership consulting firm founded by psychologist and certified coach Sofia Calheiros approximately 24 years ago (around 1999), operating from a single headquarters on Avenida da Liberdade with 11-50 employees. The firm delivers customized programs across four core expertise areas — Leadership Development, Team Development, Talent Development, and People Performance/Organizational Development — through four integrated methodologies: psychometric Assessments, Coaching, Consultancy, and Training/Workshops. Its client base consists primarily of large multinational enterprises operating in Portugal, Spain, Angola, and Brazil, with documented engagements spanning banking, technology, energy, telecommunications, consumer goods, media, and luxury/retail; named clients include Microsoft, Nestlé España, Cisco Portugal, L'Oréal, Fujitsu, Samsung Portugal, Willis Towers Watson, OutSystems, Millennium BCP, and EDP. Documented outcomes include a 28-point Organizational Health Index improvement over three years in a 7,000-employee banking engagement and a 16% climate survey gain following leadership transformation work.

The firm's service portfolio relies on a curated ecosystem of premium third-party assessment instruments licensed through 12+ partnerships with providers such as Korn Ferry (Hay Group), Center for Creative Leadership, OPP (MBTI), The Insights Group, Belbin UK, Saville Consulting/Willis Towers Watson, Birkman, Everything DiSC, and Cultural Q. Coaching is positioned as the firm's 'crown jewel' service, offered in formats including individual, executive, team, group, and career coaching delivered via face-to-face, virtual, walking, and experiential modalities — distinctively including horse-assisted and paddle sessions, and a 2-day Executive Presence Workshop based on Taekwondo Songahm. The High Flyers Program integrates assessment, stretch assignments, coaching, and peer-company rotations into leadership succession strategy.

Commercially, the firm operates a sales-led, direct-engagement professional services model. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and services are customized; distribution is driven by content marketing through its #Best of Us blog, industry publications in Portuguese HR media (Revista Human Resources, Líder Magazine, Revista Pessoal, Jornal Dinheiro Vivo), ICF Portugal Annual Conference sponsorship, and inbound enterprise inquiries. The firm has no institutional investors, no subsidiaries, no external funding rounds, no disclosed revenue, no proprietary technology platform, no app, no API, no patents, and no disclosed AI capabilities — it is a pure-play human-delivered consulting practice wholly owned by its founder.

Name

Sofia Calheiros & Associates

Legal name

Sofia Calheiros & Associates

Website

https://sofiacalheiros.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Sofia Calheiros & Associates is a Lisbon-based boutique HR and leadership consulting firm that delivers executive coaching, psychometric assessments, training, and organizational consulting to multinational enterprise clients across Portugal, Spain, Africa, and South America.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Management Consulting (Leadership & Executive Coaching)

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161), Human Resources Consulting Services (541612), Professional and Management Development Training (61143), Professional and Management Development Training (611430)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Governance & Board Effectiveness Advisory (BPAHAFAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Corporate Team-Building & Offsite Services (HSACADAF), Foundational PM & Delivery Methods (Waterfall/Agile/Hybrid) (EDABAHAA)

Keywords

• Executive coaching services
• Leadership development consulting
• Team development programs
• Talent management consulting
• Organizational development services

Headquarters

HQ city

Lisboa

HQ country

Portugal

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Consulting Services: Organizational consultancy engagements focused on deep immersion in client reality, listening, questioning, and designing creative solutions in partnership with clients.
2. Coaching Services: Executive, Team, Group, and Career coaching delivered through face-to-face, virtual, phone, and experiential formats. Coaching is described as the 'crown jewel' of services.
3. Training Programs: Experiential workshops including Unconscious Bias, Cultural Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence, Positive Power & Influence, Team Development, Situational Leadership, and more.
4. Assessments: Psychometric and leadership assessments including DiSC, MBTI, Belbin Team Roles, Korn Ferry tools, and customized assessment batteries for hiring, development, and succession planning.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Sofia Calheiros & Associates is an executive coaching and leadership development consultancy that helps organizations and their leaders improve leadership effectiveness, team performance, talent management, and overall people performance. The firm delivers bespoke in-company programs, open programs, case-study-based workshops, and webinars across multiple countries, supported by four methodologies: coaching, assessments, consultancy, and training.

Product overview

Sofia Calheiros & Associates is an HR and Leadership consulting firm offering a portfolio of professional services organized around four core areas: Leadership Development, Team Development, Talent Development, and People Performance/Organizational Development. The firm delivers services through four integrated methodologies: Assessments (using instruments from Korn Ferry, Saville, OPP, and others including DiSC, MBTI, Belbin, and EQ assessments), Coaching (Executive, Team, Group, and Career), Consultancy, and Training/Workshops. The company specializes in customized programs for cultural transformation, leadership alignment, talent management, and organizational climate improvement, working with multinational clients across Portugal, Europe, Africa, and South America. Their approach is experiential and action-oriented, combining various assessment tools with coaching and training interventions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Leadership Development Programs Bespoke leadership development programs for individual leaders and leadership teams, delivered in-company or via open programs, leveraging executive coaching, assessments, consultancy, and training methodologies. Aimed at senior leaders and leadership teams in multinational enterprises.
• Team Development Programs Programs designed to improve team effectiveness, collaboration, and performance, delivered in-company or through open programs using coaching, assessments, and experiential case-study methods. Targeted at intact teams and team leaders in large organizations.
• Talent Development Programs Structured programs to identify and grow high-potential talent and strengthen the leadership bench, delivered via the firm's coaching, consultancy, and training methodologies. Aimed at HR, L&D, and Talent Management functions in enterprises.
• People Performance / Organizational Development Organization-wide consulting focused on improving people performance, organizational culture, and effectiveness, delivered as in-company consultancy engagements using the firm's four methodologies. For senior HR and business leaders.
• Case Study Programs Case-study-based programs used as an experiential learning format within the firm's leadership and team development offerings, combining real or simulated business cases with coaching and group discussion.
• Coaching Skills Webinar Webinar-format program aimed at building coaching skills for managers and leaders, delivered online as an open-enrollment format.
• Executive Coaching (1:1) One-to-one executive coaching engagements for senior leaders, drawing on Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching and complementary assessment-based methods. Intended for C-level and senior executives in enterprise clients.
• Assessments (Psychometric and 360°) Diagnostic assessments for leaders and teams delivered in partnership with CLT and PDI, used to inform coaching, team development, and broader organization development engagements.

Quantifiable outcome

• Organizational Health Index improved by 28 points over three years in a banking sector case study (7,000 employees)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and strategic.

• Korn Ferry (Hay Group)coreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership for leadership assessment tools including Inventory of Leadership Styles (ILS), Emotional and Social Competency Inventory (ESCI), and organizational climate surveys.
• Saville Consulting – Willis Towers WatsoncoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership for comprehensive assessments including Leadership Impact Report, Work Roles, Swift Analysis Aptitude, Sales Expert Report, Onboarding Report, and Interview Guide.
• Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)coreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership for Benchmarks for Managers, Benchmarks for Executives, Benchmarks for Learning Agility, Leadership Gap Indicator, and KEYS to Creativity and Innovation assessments.
• OPPcoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership for MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator) Step I & II, and career-related assessments.
• The Insights GroupcoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership for Insights Discovery personality assessment tool.
• Belbin UKcoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership for Belbin Team Roles assessment used in team development programs.
• Cultural QcoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership for CQ (Cultural Quotient) assessment and Cultural Intelligence programs. Sofia Calheiros is one of only two certified specialists in Portugal.
• Corporate Coach UcoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership for PCSI (Personal Coaching Styles Inventory) assessment.
• Everything DiSCcoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership for DiSC personality preferences assessment used in training and development programs.
• Birkman InternationalcoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership for Birkman assessment used in onboarding and career development programs.
• Situation Management Systems (SMS)coreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership for ISQ (Influence Styles Questionnaire) assessment.
• SCALcoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership for Customer Service Diagnosis (Diagnóstico de Serviço ao Cliente) assessment.
• ICF PortugalstrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational Coach Federation Portugal chapter - Sofia Calheiros sponsored the Annual Conference and is active in the coaching community.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• BTS: Strategy and leadership execution consulting firm using simulations and experiential learning. Comparable on experiential leadership development and enterprise capability-building, though operates globally.
• The Ken Blanchard Companies: Leadership training and consulting firm built around Situational Leadership and related content — directly comparable to Sofia Calheiros's Situational Leadership workshops and leadership development programs.
• Development Dimensions International (DDI): Specialist in leadership development, assessment centers, and succession planning. Highly comparable to Sofia Calheiros's leadership and talent pipelines, though DDI is a much larger global operator.
• FranklinCovey: Leadership, execution and performance training provider with flagship content (e.g., The 7 Habits) and enterprise delivery. Comparable to Sofia Calheiros's training/workshop methodology for leadership and people performance.
• Hogan Assessments: Personality assessment provider widely used in leadership development, hiring and succession. Comparable to Sofia Calheiros's psychometric/assessment practice anchored on tools like Korn Ferry, MBTI and Belbin.
• Center for Creative Leadership (CCL): Nonprofit leadership development and research organization offering assessments, coaching and programs — directly comparable to the leadership development, executive coaching and assessment work Sofia Calheiros delivers.

Broad incumbents

• Right Management (ManpowerGroup): Talent and career management consulting arm of ManpowerGroup, offering leadership development, coaching and outplacement. Overlaps with Sofia Calheiros's talent development and coaching work at a global enterprise scale.
• Korn Ferry: Global organizational consulting firm offering executive search, leadership development, and assessments. Direct overlap with Sofia Calheiros's leadership and talent practice, but operates at vastly greater scale and as a full-portfolio incumbent.
• Egon Zehnder: Global executive search and leadership advisory firm. Comparable on the executive coaching and leadership advisory axis, with broader executive search capabilities and significantly greater scale.
• Heidrick & Struggles: Executive search and leadership consulting firm offering leadership assessment, coaching and team effectiveness — overlapping Sofia Calheiros's executive coaching and team development services at a global scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/SofiaCalheirosandAssociates
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company-beta/10387294

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sofia Calheiros & Associates