Bernardo Wood SOLUTIONS is born

“Everything happens for a reason….”. Sentence that people use to accept what happens in life. I strongly believe that we can make things happen. Sometimes we need luck of just being in the right place and time, but even with that we are those in charge to make things progress and happen.

In November 2019, we made a family decision (at least the adults) to leave the UK and live in Madeira island, Portugal. That move would of course have deep repercussions in our life, one of which would be the need to setup my own company in order to continue working for UKAEA (United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority). This, in my mind, was the perfect way to 1) continue with my work remotely and 2) being able to have within the company the possibility to do woodwork. This makes the company a strange hybrid between a R&D company acting as consultant in Nuclear research activities and also as a woodworking company to produce furniture. I’m sure that this must have raised more than 1 eyebrow in the department approving companies when they are created….. I know if it was me I would be “ohhh interesting, a company on Nuclear Fusion and …. what??? and furniture maker…… ?????”.
The word Madeira can’t be used in a company because it’s a trademark of the island and therefore after giving some thought I decided to call the company Bernardo Wood Solutions. First hurdle passed, company was setup and name approved.


Next was the need to have insurances setup. Word of advice, if you need insurance and you work in the field of nuclear you are in for a treat. I spent weeks, and many many brokers to get the insurances setup. The amount of insurance companies that rejected me was around 10 , all of them sending me kind emails or phone calls saying “we apologize but we won’t be able to insure these field of activities….”. First, the word nuclear for insurance company must raise a red flag and on top of it they probably thought “this guy must be bonkers … furniture and nuclear fusion” :D :D :D :D. After weeks of trying, I finally managed to get the necessary insurances from a company abroad.

Next, look for a place…..