About Us

Hello! I am Tiago Costa Rocha, i was born in 5th May of 1987, in Porto, Portugal. 

I grew up in this beautiful city, with very different kinds of people, from different extracts, beliefs and educations. That fact made me, a person who likes to be integrated everywhere with everybody.

I´ve studied in Matosinhos, since i was four years old, and there i remained for fourteen, amazing years. I love that city and i love the friends that i've made there.

In 2005, i've finished the highschool, and fortunatelly, i was one of the lucky guys, that got in his first college option, there i was, at FEUP (Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto), a kind of a monster institution, different from all that i knew before. Master in Electrical an Computers Engineering was the course, and a big journey was starting, maybe the biggest till now.

During the next years, i've studied, but it was not enough for me, so, i've worked, in different areas, like promoting, hosting, and organizing events, i was part of a public relations staff also. The two experiences that i won't surely forget, are, the FCPorto, public relations work, and TMN Monthly Private Showcases, where i knew a variety of people connected to the show business. Since my first year of college, i was one of the elected lucky guys, to the Football Faculty Team, center forward its my position, and football its a kind of religion for me. I've played federated years before, in Leixões Sport Clube and Vilanovense Futebol Clube. Curious its the fact that in my second day of this traineeship, was being played the quarter-final of the College Championship, it was the first time in my life that i didn't even try to be there, a new life was starting.

In 2010, I had maybe the greatest life experience until today, and it started in my apartment months before, I was studying with a friend, and in the middle of a coffee break, the idea occurred: " And if we went to study to Brazil? ". It was a dream, but in these times, ERASMUS its a very gratificating program for students, but honestly, my wish was to cross the Atlantic, Brazil or US, were the horizons. Fortunatelly FEUP, has a program of mutual parcery with lots of brazilian universities, the MOBILE program. In 24th July, there we were, flying to Recife, in Pernambuco's State, one of the pearls of that amazing country. Six months, new people, new life. It will be always rememberd as a successful experience, not only for the medium grade of 15 values at the University of Pernambuco, but principally for the changes inside myself, that turned me into a better person, with a different way to live this journey, called life.

Last February, on the final stage of my course, an opportunity appeared, a project of Energy Management developed by Sonae Indústria, created a place for a trainee, coming from my course, and here i am now, facing this brand new challenge, surely the most ambitious of all. 

Sonae Indústria is a manufacturer of engineered wood products, founded and headquartered in Maia, Portugal. Present in twelve countries within three continents, Sonae Indústria has a wide range of products, from simple board to complete construction systems, a large range of wood-based products and materials for furniture, construction and decoration.

The current Sonae Indústria core business was the original and sole business of Sociedade Nacional de Estratificados (SONAE). Sonae was founded in 1959 in Maia. Its first activity was the production of high pressure decorative laminates. Sonae Indústria is a spin-off from SONAE SGPS, today a conglomerate with activity in several businesses (retail, supermarkets, real estate, etc.), excluding engineered wood. The separation of Sonae Indústria was in 2005. Today it is one of the world leaders in the wood-based products sector. This position was achieved after the takeover of the German company Glunz AG, in 1998, followed by an organic growth. This helped to consolidate the company globalization process. The demerger-merger and merger operation of Sonae – SGPS, S.A. began on September 2005. This operation consisted of a split of part of the shareholding held by Sonae – SGPS, S.A. in Sonae Indústria – SGPS, S.A. and its integration in Sonae 3P – Panels, Pulp and Paper, SGPS, S.A.. This last company integrated the full share capital of SI through a simultaneous merger operation. With this operation and as from December, 20th 2005 SI is extinguished and the company Sonae 3P – Panels, Pulp and Paper, SGPS, SA is renamed Sonae Indústria, SGPS, SA.

Sonae Indústria is one of the largest wood based panels producers in the world. The product range includes:

   - Particleboard;

- MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard);

- Hardboard;

- OSB (Oriented Strand Board);

- Production and sales of value added products and services - components, solutions and systems - for the furniture, building, decoration and DIY industries.

and also:

- Production of high pressure decorative laminates;

- Production of chemical products (formaldehyde and formaldehyde based resins).

The Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto (FEUP) is the engineering faculty of the University of Porto, in Porto, Portugal. With its origins in the 18th century, the institution became known as Faculdade de Engenharia in 1926. It awards degrees from the licenciate, master and doctare, in several engineering fields, ranging from mechanical engineering to chemical engineering. It is a top-level engineering school, known to be one of the best in Europe as well as in Portugal with Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa and Instituto Superior Técnico.