INNOVATORS VS COVID 19

The CEO Tweaq-ing the Future of Public Health and Hygiene

Published

3 years ago

01/19/2021

Kokou Adzo

We talked to Giovanni Barilla on how Tweaq helps people advance through the world designing tomorrow’s smart-touch-points, today and he had the following to say about it:-

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times?

Giovanni Barilla: Covid-19 was not a typical situation to handle, but everyone learned a lot from it. Of course, the most difficult part is keeping safe and doing everything not to catch this virus and pass it on. It is a horrible feeling to get that message from a person you saw 1-2 days saying they have caught it. Imagine being the person sending the message…The “sacrifice” of ordinary life in order to be more careful led to focusing on other things that brought a lot of joy and new experiences. This would have never happened without this pandemic, and out of all the bad situations, there is a lot of good.

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded Tweaq?

Giovanni Barilla: I have always loved developing ideas and trying to make a living out of them. I have worked on many projects – all very different: from real estate to road safety, and eventually public health & hygiene. I have worked in various industries: hospitality, finance, and jewelry when I was a student. Working in different sectors and getting my hands dirty has helped a lot to build experience and helped me figure out what I wanted to do.

Tweaq was founded after leaving a similar project. I co-founded the company with Baptiste and Vincent, whom I have previously worked with. We share the same vision, which is very important. I really enjoy putting the best minds together to develop the best solutions to problems we want to solve. I don’t pretend I know everything, but I am a good listener and a great learner. Surrounding myself with great people will help drive Tweaq along the road to success.

How does Tweaq innovate?

Giovanni Barilla: We thrive on creating eureka moments: “Ahhhhh, why didn’t I think of that sooner!!??” We innovate by improving people’s lives by tweaking everyday objects to make them better.

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?

Giovanni Barilla: Our business took another dimension with COVID-19. Before the pandemic, we were already solving a problem. COVID-19 acted as an amplificator of that problem, making our solution more relevant. The advantage we have is that our solution will still be relevant after the pandemic crisis, and that is why we are not making the pandemic the full focus. Luckily for us, the project is still at an early stage, and no one was impacted professionally by this crisis. We hope we will be able to create jobs in the coming months.

Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned?

Giovanni Barilla: Not yet.

How do you deal with stress and anxiety?

Giovanni Barilla: I talk to my girlfriend, who is my best support. I also like to go out on the run and take a nice shower to clear my head. I take a step back and see that there are bigger problems in life than a glitch that I will forget about two days after it happened.

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

Giovanni Barilla: All the solutions allow people to safely pass through a touchpoint. There are many competitors, and they all have their pros and cons. We stay in the game not only by proposing a better solution than our competitors but by focusing on the customer and what they want. We learn a lot from our competitors, but we learn more from our customers and what problems they face with their actual products.