Manuel Pestana left Madeira Island in 1945 to build a better life. He has achieved more than he ever imagined: in just two generations, his family name has become synonymous with a hotel brand with an international dimension.
The first time he visited his parents’ homeland in 1958, Dennis was six and struck by the poverty of rural life. In Madeira, Dennis was better known as Dionísio, the only son of businessman Manuel Pestana, who had emigrated to South Africa in 1945, aged 26. Originally from the parish of Ribeira Brava, 19 kilometres from Funchal, Manuel’s choice was clear: stay and live a life of subsistence or leave in hope of something better.
Manuel Pestana made the trip alone, leaving behind his six siblings and his wife, Caridade Fernandes. For six years, he worked on a fruit and vegetable farm, before opening a grocer’s shop in Johannesburg, which he soon switched for a liquor store. It was then he asked Caridade and other family members to join him. The couple’s son, Dionísio, was born in South Africa, in 1952.
Manuel demonstrated a rare vision and instinct for business, investing his liquor shop profits in gold mine shares, which were affordable due to the stock market crisis. Soon, he made his first major property investment, the magnificent Prédio Funchal (now Pestana Rovuma) building in the centre of Lourenço Marques (now Maputo), which was completed in 1964.
A few years later, he decided on something riskier: a luxury hotel in Madeira. After convincing Eça d’Almeida to sell him the Hotel Atlântico, construction began on the project in 1968. It took a full four years until the Sheraton Madeira opened, and another four for Manuel to put his son Dionísio in charge. 50 years since his first hotel, Pestana is no longer just a family name, but something synonymous with a major international hotel group.
