Filipe earned his phD in Chemistry at the University of Kaiserslautern in Germany. Shortly afterwards he finished his MBA at the University of Stellenbosch Business School in South Africa.

As Head of R&D he helped build the first industrial plant for production of Carbon Black from end of life tires. For the last five years he has been responsible for Cronimet Envirotec and is focused on further developing a sustainable business model for recycling valuable resources from metallic waste. The Cronimet subsidiary is operating two recycling plants for filter dust, grinding sludges, and other metal-containing by-products in Bitterfeld, Germany.