Did you know early on what
vocation to follow?
The entrepreneurial vocation appeared
early on, driven, in the first place, by the example of my father and, later,
leveraged by the distinction as Young Entrepreneur of High Potential (JEEP),
among hundreds of candidates that existed that year. This was a fantastic
program created by Almor Viegas, one of the greatest pioneers of
entrepreneurship in Portugal, in collaboration with the Banco Português do
Atlântico (BPA), the Associação Industrial Portuense (AIPortuense), and the
Luso-American Development Foundation (FLAD). Over twelve editions, it has
launched several young people who are currently successful entrepreneurs in
Portugal.
How did BF Consultores come into
your life?
I met Raúl Borges while we were
working at an IBM Agent in Oporto, where I spent about two years involved in
some important community projects for software development for industrial
companies. The empathy was immediate and we quickly realised what we could
achieve professionally, if we joined together each of our personal assets. From
there to becoming partners and forming BF Consultores was just one step, and
during this whole process we had the fundamental support of the Portuguese IBM
Company, our business partner.
The group was joined by
WhiteCode, in 2012, dedicated to various areas of services for companies. Would
you like to tell us a little about the versatility of the areas in which the
company operates?
WhiteCode is a technology-based
company, specialized in Software Development and Marketing & Management,
focused on the design, development, and supply of solutions, attuned to the
different aspects of the market and supported by the skills the company
possesses, namely its bridging capacity between the regional scientific and
technological system and the consumer market.
It is the integration of
knowledge centres and the business reality that assures disruptive innovation,
and so, for WhiteCode, business co-operation and the co-operation with entities
from the Scientific and Technological System are the pillars of the company’s
strategy and business model. We contribute to the cornerstones of the national
specialisation strategy and to the pillars of the Digital Agenda for Europe, so
we position ourselves as translators of theoretical knowledge, bringing about
solutions from the interconnection between scientific research and practical
knowledge.
«Our intention is that healthcare will be [...]
a strong area of specialisation for the company»
WhiteCode belongs to the group
and was created to fill a gap that BF clients were missing when it came to
technology and digital marketing. What does the company offer to the market
that allows it to stand apart from the rest?
WhiteCode is part of a group with
vast experience, from consulting to investment management, and therefore has a
practical knowledge of the difficulties and weaknesses that companies often
face. This real knowledge, which is at the origin of WhiteCode’s establishment,
guarantees the company’s unique positioning, since it recognises precisely the
client’s difficulties and the developments that they long for to face the
challenges they feel they are confronted with.
On the other hand, the company
applies a hybrid model of innovation, making it possible to put into operation
solutions through constant market monitoring, as well as employing the
theoretical knowledge existing in the SCT to the emerging needs of the various
end-consumption sectors. In practice, this approach enhances the degree of
openness of the economy to the outside world, since we work almost exclusively
with exporting companies or in the process of becoming so, so we also play an
important role in our scale.
Your portfolio of clients is
predominantly in what sector of activity?
In all industrial sectors, with
special emphasis on the mining/quarrying, metalworking, and textile industries.
Our intention is that healthcare will be, in the future, a strong area of
specialisation for the company, given its potential for development, so it is
required to continue developing solutions in the field of eHealth and mHealth,
responding to the current paradigms and societal challenges.
What is your role in your
business?
I am responsible for the
operational area of the company, coordinating and leading the technical
development, database design and solution research. The creation of new
solutions for the customers has to be accompanied by in-depth work, namely at
the level of studying its potential, the best way to develop and parameterize
systems and product design, so I am also responsible for creating work teams,
by choosing the appropriate resources.