Elena Rico i Vilar (Puigcerdà, 1976). Managing partner IMPACT PARTNERS

Telecommunications Engineer and MBA from the Universidad de la Salle.  She was director of operations at Caixa Capital Risc, and was the driving force behind the creation of People and Planet Partners to finance and support companies that use technology to solve one of the social and/or environmental problems defined in the SDGs. And now managing partner of IMPACT Partners. She is also an advisor to Mutua de Propietarios and an independent expert for the European Commission; married and mother of a 13 year old boy and a 10 year old girl.

TB: Why your project?

ER: It makes no sense to look at the world only for financial returns, we must do our bit for society. My best way of doing this every day: Impact investing.

TB: A good idea you have had.

ER: No super ideas at the moment, but it’s never too late.

TB: A bad professional experience.

ER: Not having had the opportunity to work abroad.

TB: The best advice you’ve ever been given.

ER: More than advice, a harsh but very true sentence I saw in an article: “people don’t usually get what they deserve, but what they know how to negotiate”.

TB: An inspiration.

ER: The entrepreneurs. I learn from them every day.

TB: A startup.

ER: I couldn’t decide on just one.

TB: A book to recommend.

ER: Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

TB: A series or film or song that defines your moment in life.

ER: Stronger (What doesn’t kill you), by Kelly Clarkson

TB: A recipe, a meal, a restaurant.

ER: A pizza, Friday night, watching a movie with the family.

TB: A city, a journey.

ER: Sri Lanka

TB: Where would you invest 100k?

ER: In the company that I hope my children will create in the future.

TB: And a million euros?

ER: In a social or environmental impact fund.

TB: If you weren’t in an investment fund…

ER: In a startup where they develop a Tech4Good product.

TB: What is Tech Barcelona for you?

ER: One of the initiatives that truly implements the concept of “think global, act local”.

Barcelona, 1972. I work at Methinks, a startup founded in 2016 that uses software to analyse head CT scans of stroke patients to help doctors decide on treatment in time during the emergency. I studied industrial engineering at UPC and an MBA at IESE, and I’ve been programming since my father brought an Apple PC home in 1982. Methinks is my second company; the previous one, Coordina, which tracked vehicles with GPS, was acquired by TomTom in 2013. I like to work without being too sure that things will work out, in a close-knit group, trying to overcome difficulties without losing my sense of humour.

I was born in Geneva, 1983. I am the son of Spanish immigrants in Switzerland and became an adult in Montreal in Canada. Co-founder and Co-CEO of Talent.com, a job search platform. Progressing in padel and very ‘culé’.

XAVIER BERNEDA (Sant Boi de Llobregat, 1971). Owner and CEO of Munich

His grandfather opened a shoe factory in 1939 that specialised in football, handball and boxing shoes. In the 1960s, they innovated with the Munich brand and the emblematic X. Three decades later, faced with strong Asian competition, Xavier Berneda made a strategic turnaround in the family firm, betting on fashion and succeeding in Italy, the most difficult market. Today, Munich is a company that manufactures more than 1.2 million trainers and sells in more than 30 countries. Berneda is gaining the upper hand on the saying that the first generation creates the company, the second one enjoys it and the third one makes it disappear…

TECH BARCELONA: Why your project?

XAVIER BERNEDA: Because it is a life and family project. We have to show that the third generation can also do it well.

TB: A good idea you have had.

XB: We have had many. Creating the fashion department, betting on online when nobody was doing it yet and creating the DUUO brand that allows us to have fun and brings us a lot to the company.

TB: A bad professional experience

XB: Distribution contracts. People who are supposed to talk about the brand for you and don’t give it enough importance.

TB: The best advice you’ve ever been given

XB: My grandfather used to give me a lot of them. I’ll stick with: Where there is no profit nearby, there is loss.

TB: An inspiration

XB: The one given to me by a friend from the Golden Ticket company who is not having a very good time with the concerts. He told me that we are in a sweet moment for sneakers and that I shouldn’t miss the opportunity.

TB: A startup (other than your own)

XB: I have always been a big fan of Privalia. They managed to treat us not as suppliers but as customers.

TB: A book to recommend

XB: L’encàrrec by Xavier Melero.

TB: A series or film or song that defines your moment in life.

XB: Succession. I see a lot of similarities between the grandfather and the CEO. I don’t see anything in common with the children, but it amuses me and makes me laugh a lot.

TB: A recipe, a meal, a restaurant.

XB: Restaurants where you can talk, where there is no noise, where you are well looked after and where they offer market cuisine. The other day, for example, I went with my daughter to Arturo restaurant in Sants and we enjoyed a good lobina together.

TB: A city, a journey.

XB: Any Asian city. I like to socialise with the people and find out how they live and how they value the way we live.

TB: Where would you invest 100k?

XB: In Munich.

TB: And a million euros?

XB: In Munich as well.

TB: If you were not an entrepreneur…

XB: I would be a firefighter. To be in contact with nature, to give service to people in need. When I see a firefighter I want to hug him.

TB: What is Tech Barcelona for you?

XB: The opportunity to meet and share experiences, share work in order to grow much faster and ask the administration for opportunities so that we can do more things and be the engine of the online economy and tech to the world from Barcelona.

Sara Werner, CEO and co-founder of Cocunat

Huesca, 1978. I am CEO and co-founder with Ignasi Faus of Cocunat, the leading Spanish digital native brand in natural and toxic free cosmetics. I united my entrepreneurial DNA, my concern for toxic-free cosmetics and my passion for new technologies and since then my mission is to achieve a better, more sustainable and safer world for people, animals and the planet through cosmetics.

TECH BARCELONA: Why your project?

CARLA ZALDÚA. Founder and CEO of Accexible

Accexible’s algorithm allows, with a 60-second audio, to detect depression or Alzheimer’s disease, with an accuracy of over 90%. Founded in 2017 by Carla and Javi Zaldúa, it has a team of 5 people and is based in the Pier01 coworking space. This year it has raised a pre-seed round of €800,000. The tool, focused as a support for doctors, has the CE mark for medical devices, is in projects with Quirónsalud and at international level is preparing pilots in Colombia and with Harvard University.

Bilbao, 1976. I have studied political science. My work is at the frontiers of medicine, technology and applied linguistics. At Accexible we detect mental illnesses such as Alzheimer’s or depression through speech analysis, early, effectively and remotely. It allows access to effective treatment for these people.

TB: ¿Why your project?

CARLA ZALDÚA. We should break down the cultural taboo on mental health and have mental health check-ups in the same way that we have our blood tested annually.

TB. A good idea you had.

CZ. Listen to good ideas from others. Listening in general is always a great idea.

TB: A bad professional experience.

CZ: You learn something from everything.

TB: Best advice you’ve ever been given.

CZ: Always follow your instinct, but don’t pay too much attention to it.

TB: An inspiration.

CZ: Many characters that inspire me. From Grace Hopper, the inventor of modern programming languages, to Pijoaparte of Últimas tardes con Teresa.

TB: A start-up (other than yours).

CZ: Methinks because they are dedicated to saving lives at crucial moments.

TB: A book to recommend.

CZ: Gran Gatsby from Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. 

TB: A series, film or song that defines your moment in life.

CZ: Changes, by David Bowie.

TB: A recipe, a meal, a restaurant.

CZ: Igueldo and its chuletón.

TB: A city, a journey.

CZ: Persepolis in Irán.

TB: Where would you invest 100k?

CZ: On the Igueldo.

TB: And one million euros?

CZ: In accexible

TB: If you weren’t an entrepreneur…

CZ: I would be an explorer.

TB: What does Tech Barcelona mean to you?

CZ: Tech Barcelona is an opportunity, it gives us access to different stakeholders that we would not otherwise have access to.