From the Traiano district of Naples to the heart of America, Antonio Giacomini tells The New Yorker about his vision for Innovaway: an Italian company that focuses on skills, sustainability, inclusion and innovation to meet global challenges.
How and when was Innovaway born?
The history of the company began way back in 1998; last year we celebrated our 25th anniversary. It is the story of two families who got together and created a business. We were four friends at the bar: me, my brother and my two brothers-in-law. There were those who had yet to graduate, those who had just graduated, and together we decided to embark on our entrepreneurial journey. In the early days we had to share the work, with no secretaries. But it didn’t take us long to realize that we would write our own story from there. We grew in the industry we believed in and today we have more than 1,300 employees scattered in seven Italian cities and four cities abroad. For the past few months we have also had a presence here in the United States.
– Questa intervista fa parte del quarto numero cartaceo de IlNewyorkese: ACQUISTALO QUI
When you decide to do business in difficult territory like Naples there are many difficulties…
Yes, our headquarters is still where we were born, in the multipurpose center in Soccavo, in the middle of the Traiano neighborhood. It is a neighborhood known for sure for crime news. But today it is still a pride for us to be there and to do activities on that difficult territory. We believed in that territory, we still believe in it now and we invest in it. The story was born there and then, little by little, we were able to expand, first to Rome, then to Milan, then to Turin. At that point we realized that we needed a different structure.
Have you ever had difficult times when you thought you couldn’t do it?
I am a tenacious person; when I set a goal, I try to achieve it in every way. One strength is the family: it is not a family business, but we are four very close people. Perhaps the success comes mostly from that, also because I personally did not study in the IT field, I was born more in finance. I often say that I am a borrowed man from the world of finance to IT. But in this industry I know what pieces to add and how to make them work together.
The world, especially in IT, is constantly evolving. How do you keep up with the times?
The important thing is to focus on certain niches and develop them. Our strength compared to multinational companies, which have standardized services, is to provide tailor-made services, customizing the offer on the company. We study the company, we understand it, we speak the same language. That was the key to growth. Then the challenge became international. Now we have offices in New York, Philadelphia, but before that we had reached Albania, Holland, Bulgaria.
When you left for America did you have the famous American dream?
No, I am sincere. I know people who operate in the United States, and the last acquisition made of international management has always worked here in America. So our choice to open in the U.S. came from the fact that the time had come to do it, because the team was the right one to enter such a big market, but also such a competitive one. Working in IT in the U.S. is a bit like selling ice to Eskimos, but we always do it with our own footprint, with the same focus on Services that we have always put in. We have the presumption to think that we will be able to find our niche here as well. We have prepared for this leap; it will not be a leap into the void.
What are the goals you have set for yourselves?
The goal is to reach sales of one hundred million globally. Today we are at the end of the last quarter of 2024 and will close just under seventy.
Here you chose an American management so that you could manage everything well. How long was the preparation phase for your landing in the US?
Let’s say we initially courted for a while a band already active here that we knew from some collaborations in Europe. In general, the idea of landing in the United States was born more than two years ago.
How are you approaching Artificial Intelligence and what opportunities does it offer?
Artificial Intelligence is a world that an IT company must compulsorily be in. We have created a special department, including through our research and development department, with which we have developed our own solutions in this direction.
As a successful manager, what advice do you have for those doing business today?
One word encapsulates all the most valuable advice I could give: expertise. That’s the term by now. You have to be able to train them, have a compact team and invest in skills, in young people: train them and bring them into the company.
We in Campania have an ITS that I preside over directly. We have managed to overcome that gap in Italy in this way: by taking students coming out of high school directly to in-company training. The course usually lasts 2-3 years, in the course of which the student receives yes some lessons in the classroom, but those that have more value are those projected directly into the world of work, in the company, with an internship that varies from one to four months and in which the student touches the reality of the working context.
Beyond this, the Frederick II has developed a synergy with a group of academics and a group of particularly interesting companies in the area, among which we were also selected, and this makes us very proud.
In the area of sustainability and governance, do you have corporate policies?
Of course, that of having a sustainable and equal company is one of our cornerstones. Meanwhile, 50 percent of our employees are women, there is complete gender parity, both in terms of the number of employees but also in terms of pay. I care because we are among the most advanced companies on this point. And in fact the dropout rate is very low. We stand at around 7-8 percent annual turnover, which is really low given that it often exceeds double digits in other contexts.
In a world where software is increasingly standardized and not adapted to the experiences and activities of companies and people, what alert do you feel you are issuing to other players and customers?
In general, companies that do not transform are doomed to take steps backward. If you want to stay in the market, you have to transform, you have to digitize, and you have to make your processes more streamlined. We certainly can help sew together a suit that fits the size, the industry and the skills on which the company wants to push. We help make the right choice; we don’t just sell a product. One of our spearheads is definitely the consulting team, with whom we build a path based on the client’s needs.
What is the most common mistake you have seen made over the years?
Certainly many entrepreneurs err on the side of presumption: one must confront oneself before making choices, otherwise they often turn out to be unsuitable over time.
His favorite place here in New York?
It’s SoHo. And then there’s Cipriano, my favorite restaurant.
The article Antonio Giacomini: 25 years of challenges and successes between innovation and roots comes from TheNewyorker.
