Imagine the collective groans of every member of an organization. That’s the sound you hear as they are instructed to complete traditional training modules. Those traditional workplace training methods are ineffective and outdated, not to mention a real snoozefest (hence the collective whine). Conventional training programs often lack engagement, fail to provide measurable results, and do not cater to individual learning needs and styles. Yet, companies spend billions each year on employee training even though they do not see performance improvements, nor are they able to track their return on investment.
Effective training is crucial for enhancing employee performance, productivity, and adaptability, which ultimately leads to higher job satisfaction and retention. They ensure consistent quality and compliance, streamline onboarding, address skill gaps, and provide a competitive edge, fostering overall organizational success, but the current instructional methodologies are sorely lacking.
That is, they were lacking. The founders of inncivio have created what some are calling the ultimate AI-powered learning platform or infrastructure designed to help businesses grow by empowering teams with the tailored skills and knowledge they need to thrive (and love doing it).
inncivio was born from the combined passions and expertise of three visionary founders: Ghassen Benhadjsalah, Anna Raafat, and Fernando Felix. Their mission? To bring effective, personalized education to businesses worldwide, ensuring that both leaders and employees have the tools they need to succeed as the world rapidly changes and forces businesses to continue to adapt and pivot.
inncivio’s AI-powered platform delivers ‘micro-learning,’ which is personalized, relevant, bite-sized content in a gamified environment that fosters team competition and risk-free learning. This approach not only enhances user engagement and skill acquisition but also ensures that training is impactful and aligned with the specific needs of the business and its employees.
“In 6-10 minutes, busy people will be provided with the basic understanding they need around a subject,” notes Anna. “And, organizations get the analytics they need to measure the impact of that training.”
The inncivio Team: Ghassen Benhadjsalah, Co-Founder and CEO
“I’ve always been passionate about helping other entrepreneurs and business owners because I truly believe that we need these guys, and it’s a very hard task,” shares Ghassen. He recognized that many business owners are generally busy running their ventures and end up lacking time for their employees. Upskilling or sometimes reskilling teams is becoming highly important, especially in the current tight market conditions. Employee retention and engagement play a vital role in the success of small to medium-sized businesses. Thus, with the inception of inncivio, he hopes to fill the gap by providing accessible, high-quality education to teams that is more tailored to the needs of modern-day businesses and a diverse workforce.
Ghassen’s academic roots lie in data science, what is now popularly known as AI. While new to many when his career started, he brings over 15 years of experience in this field. Additionally, Ghassen has a strong foundation in actuarial science, providing him with the mathematical and rounded expertise crucial for innovative problem-solving in the business world. His math background and passion for teaching helped him succeed at university in Switzerland. To pay for his master’s degree, he gave tutoring courses in subjects related to math. This experience also sparked his curiosity about the power of education when well done.
Ghassen is also no stranger to the entrepreneurial landscape; inncivio is his fifth startup venture. As he puts it, “If we don’t innovate, we become irrelevant.”
Anna Raafat is Co-Founder and COO
inncivio’s COO Anna Raafat’s passion for education has been a constant throughout her life. With a background in economics and experience in the public sector, consulting, and startups, she brings a unique perspective to inncivio. Anna has always been fascinated by the different education systems around the world and has sought to understand the best ways to optimize learning for diverse populations.
“Many people think that once they finish university, they can stop learning and just live their lives. This mindset is dangerous, especially at a young age, because continuous learning is crucial for solving many problems and essential in light of the rapid tech revolution. This belief in lifelong education is what drove me to co-found inncivio with Ghassen and Felix.”
Her career journey includes roles at the Swiss National Bank, Deloitte, and Acredius (a Swiss fintech startup co-founded by Ghassen). The latter is where she met and started working with Ghassen and Felix. Her focus was always on bridging tech and non tech teams, running business analytics, establishing strategic partnerships, and creating scalable processes and operations.
Fernando Felix is Co-Founder and CTO
With over 18 years in the IT world, Felix adds a wealth of technology experience to the inncivio leadership team. His career has spanned managing IT teams and creating applications and platforms for clients. “I am always focused on simplifying complex technologies.”
Felix served as CTO of Acredius, Ghassen’s last venture, for five years and founded Webcomum, a Portuguese digital agency he led for over 18 years. He also co-founded two gaming and software businesses and has an academic background in industrial design, including a university teaching stint.
Felix’s teaching background honed his ability to communicate intricate concepts in an accessible manner, a skill he uses with inncivio to bridge the gap between technology and the end user’s needs.
”For the past 18 years, I’ve been deeply involved in the IT world, managing teams and creating internet-related applications and platforms. As a teacher of design, web, and development, I found a passion for simplifying complex information for my students. This experience has been invaluable in my agency work in Portugal, helping clients bridge the gap between technology and industry. Despite today’s technological advancements, many still don’t understand how things work.”
Formation of the Team
Felix’s journey with Ghassen began seven years ago when they collaborated on a project. Their shared vision and complementary skills, combined with Anna’s expertise, led to the formation of inncivio.
The synergy between Ghassen, Anna, and Felix is the foundation of inncivio’s success. Their diverse backgrounds and shared commitment to education and innovation have created a powerful dynamic. They believe in the importance of simplicity and user engagement, drawing from principles like those in the book “Hooked” by Nir Eyal (creating habits) to create an impactful (if not habit-forming) product.
The founders’ combined experience includes the launching of over 300 products. This vast experience has taught them the value of MVPs (Minimum Viable Products) and user feedback in building products that users genuinely care about, even if it means multiple iterations and pivots. This agile approach has been instrumental in refining the inncivio platform and ensuring it addresses real-world needs.
The founders of inncivio emphasize simplicity and user-friendliness as core principles. inncivio utilizes gen AI to integrate with a company’s existing knowledge base and deliver tailored learning experiences for each team member. The platform creates personalized bite-sized curriculums, ensuring content is relevant and up-to-date. It features a gamified learning environment with points, badges, and leaderboards to engage and motivate employees. Moving forward, the team aims to build an optimal learning path gen-AI model, predicting each individual’s learning needs.
The inncivio platform continuously updates proposed curriculums in real-time based on user progress and feedback, offering interactive bite-size modules like videos, quizzes, and action lists to cater to different learning styles. Employees can practice new skills risk-free in a virtual environment, encouraging experimentation and hands-on learning. Detailed analytics and insights track performance, identify skill gaps and adjust training programs accordingly.
The platform also fosters team collaboration and competition, enhancing individual skills and strengthening team dynamics, ensuring continuous growth and development. By incorporating gamification and personalized learning paths, the platform engages users and encourages continuous learning, which is crucial for success.
Vision for the Future
Looking ahead, Ghassen, Anna, and Felix are committed to ongoing innovation and improvement. “We truly enjoy working together. The team’s resilience, experience, and complementary skills make us exceptionally strong,” Ghassen shares. “We aim to expand inncivio’s reach and impact, to help businesses of all sizes thrive through education.” And with its cutting-edge micro-learning focus, and their optimal learning path GenAI model, inncivio will not only increase productivity and improve teams performance, but it is sure to turn the collective moaning and groaning into sighs of relief.
Greg Grzesiak is an Entrepreneur-In-Residence and Columnist at Grit Daily. As CEO of Grzesiak Growth LLC, Greg dedicates his time to helping CEOs influencers and entrepreneurs make the appearances that will grow their following in their reach globally. Over the years he has built strong partnerships with high profile educators and influencers in Youtube and traditional finance space. Greg is a University of Florida graduate with years of experience in marketing and journalism.