Norberto Fernandes

There is much to say about Norberto Fernandes. Originally from Rio de Janeiro, the founding partner of BF Consultores can look back over 59 years of experience, including a degree in Production Engineering from the University of Minho and a master’s degree in Tourism Management from IPCA. He has been an entrepreneur and administrator of several companies since an early age, and in 1995 was considered a ‘Young Entrepreneur of High Potential’ (JEEP). And, because life is also about enjoyment, he confesses that motor sports and the pleasure of travelling make him soar. Family and friends are the pillars of his life, and he guarantees that their importance will never be negotiable. With us, Norberto Fernandes, father of two children and one of the faces of BF Consultores and WhiteCode.

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.

«The Recovery and Resilience Plan will allow important investments»

Was 2022 a year of exceeding targets and overcoming challenges for the group?
It was mainly a year when we all had to relearn how to work in a post-pandemic scenario, also affected by a war in Eastern Europe, so far away and so close, that brought a number of challenges both for us and for our customers. For the group, in economic and financial terms, it was a very good year, but sometimes it was difficult to overcome the emotional difficulties caused by the disasters of the pandemic and the war.  

And 2023, are you optimistic about it?
Always! In Portugal, the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) will allow important investments in strategic areas and we will also have Portugal 2030 up and running, which should be seen as an instrument for leveraging and growth of the country, and not as a way to finance the state, as unfortunately the RRP has been. BF Consultores Group will be enthusiastically involved with its clients in the design and pursuit of the best investment strategies, and so, of course, will WhiteCode. 

Do you foresee the group’s activity going beyond borders?
Of course! Since 2014, we have embraced an internationalisation strategy that should now be strengthened at this stage, through investment, endowing the companies of the group with new intangible factors of competitiveness, which are fundamental to continue to approach foreign markets.
No less important is the knock-on effect provided by our customers, since, as I said, we work with exporting companies, so we are often alongside them, in their current markets and in the new ones that arise.