Invincible Company of the Month: Ternova

Innovation isn’t the same as product development or R&D. It’s not as simple as coming up with new ideas or just doing something differently in your company. What innovation is really about, according to Rodrigo Tona (CEO, Ternova Group), is building the company of the future. 

The question is how do you build the company of the future while still managing your existing business? This was the challenge facing Rodrigo and his company a decade or so ago.

Let's look at the backstory of the company and how they overcame this challenge.

Rodrigo already had an incredible team growing his core business, manufacturing packaging products. 

But, they were coming under pressure to react to the environmental impact of their business. They needed to create more sustainable products and processes. Yet, they weren’t ready to address the threat of disruption that lay ahead. Let alone take advantage of the potential opportunities that change in their industry could bring. 

So Rodrigo recognized it was his responsibility to step up and start the transformational change himself.

He made the decision to dedicate at least 40% of his time towards innovation. This proved to be pivotal to the change.

He then focussed on three main initiatives to help foster a culture of innovation across Ternova.

1. Innovation Capability Assessment - Rodrigo completed an innovation capability assessment in his organization. The purpose was to identify who the best individuals were internally to start the innovation culture. They would then be delegated to a small squat team dedicated to innovation. Everyone who joined that team, had to have the right mindset.
   
   
2. Mentorship - he realized he needed a mentor. He had to search for the right person to help support the change. Someone who had already done what they were trying to do.
   
   
3. Role Models - he needed to find role models. Other people who had also done what we were looking to do and were far ahead of them. He spoke to entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and people at corporate accelerators. They also brought entrepreneurs inside his company to speak to his teams.

The changes worked for Ternova.

Ternova has won multiple awards for innovation and sustainability in Latin America. The company is growing faster than ever before. They now have factories in 9 countries across four continents.

Last month, we named them Strategyzer’s Invincible Company of the Month.

There’s no one size fits all solution to building a culture of innovation. But if you dedicate time and resources you can find a way that will work for your organization.

If you’d like to find out more about how to build an invincible company yourself, join our virtual masterclass.