How Inês Caldeira Reached the Top of Forbes Portugal's 2026 List

Forbes Portugal has published its 2026 ranking of the country's most powerful women in business in the print edition now on newsstands. Among the names is 46-year-old Inês Caldeira, deputy general manager for the global market at L'Oréal Paris, who placed second in the distribution, fashion and retail category with a total score of 84 points.

Caldeira finished three points behind category leader Cláudia Azevedo. Her route inside L'Oréal has been internal throughout: she joined the Portuguese subsidiary in 2001 as a marketing intern in the consumer products division, moved to Paris three years later, and in 2014 became the first woman to lead the Portuguese unit at age 35. In 2018 she took charge of L'Oréal Thailand, a market the magazine values at more than €3 billion, before returning to the group's Paris headquarters.

This year she appears in distribution, fashion and retail instead of the industry category used in the 2023 edition. Forbes Portugal says the change reflects how crowded the industry group has become, with more candidates than the five available places.

The annual list evaluates more than 150 names drawn from hundreds of companies and institutions. Each candidate is scored across five dimensions, each worth up to 20 points: personal or family wealth, decision-making power, external influence, business size and entrepreneurship. Only the top five women in each of 11 categories make the final ranking.

What the Forbes Scoring Rewards and Why Caldeira Moved Categories

What the Forbes Scoring Rewards

Caldeira's score is consistent with a methodology that gives heavy weight to geographic scope and scale. The Thailand leadership role is particularly significant because it adds a large international market to her track record, while the current global role in Paris supports both decision-making and business-size scores. The ranking also rewards influence beyond the company, meaning an executive's presence on platforms such as LinkedIn, published articles and association roles can affect the total.

Why the Move From Industry to Retail Matters

The category change says more about the structure of the list than about any change in Caldeira's responsibilities. Forbes Portugal notes that industry and banking/finance are the largest categories, so high-scoring women can be excluded from one group while qualifying in another. That means her comparison with Cláudia Azevedo and other leaders in the retail category should be read as one ranking measure among several, not as a direct verdict on business performance.

For companies, the list is primarily a reputational marker rather than a market-moving event. It draws attention to a generation of Portuguese executives who advanced inside a single global group through international assignments.