In the debut of his YouTube channel, he talks about his dreams and his journey in technology
How did a boy who loved computers and space exploration become the man who today runs the largest foodtech in Latin America? Driven by the big dream of working with technology, Fabricio Bloisi, CEO of iFood, moved to São Paulo to study computer science, learned to balance his creativity with discipline and, thus, managed to achieve his goals.
He tells his story in first video on your YouTube channel, in which he talks about his dreams, his trajectory, his daily life and his purposes. “I'm 44 years old, I'm from Bahia, Salvador. I love technology, I love innovation, I love studying”, he reveals, to start the conversation. “I founded Movile, I work at iFood and I'm super excited about what I'm doing. I just started, and I think the next few years are going to be a lot of fun.”
Check out, in the following video or in the text below, the main points of this presentation interview with Fabricio. And, to subscribe to the channel and find out more about what he has to say about management and leadership, innovation, market trends, among other topics, access here and click “Subscribe” (so you receive notifications about new videos).
Big dream
“The big dream started for me when I was 17 years old. I was preparing for the university entrance exam and I read a book that said 'think really big goals, think incredibly big goals for 20 years from now. It just has to be big enough that if you tell your friends and family, they'll laugh and say it's completely impossible. If they say that, it's big enough.
Think about this dream for 20 years from now. Then think of another, intermediate one, for 10, then for 5, then for 1, then for 6 months, then for 1 month.' This same book says that if you had an idea or a dream and it is really important to you, write it down, because if you weren't willing to write it down, it wasn't important and meaningful enough.
These few pieces of advice define how a lot of things work in my life, since I was 17 years old. And maybe they define how iFood and Movile work, because we have this discipline of dreaming big, putting it on paper, setting a date, telling everyone and executing it with discipline, step by step, until we get there.
I started with the big dream of being a helicopter pilot, which is a passion of mine, but also of creating a very large company, of being honest in the long term and of telling this story to be a reference that it is possible to do things right . [Another big dream was] that I would pass several entrance exams and study what I wanted, which was technology. This was the first drawing of what my big dreams would be, when I was 17 years old. The next 20 years are going to be even better, so I’m really excited.”
Creativity and discipline
I don't do things the same every day: I change everything, I have different ideas, I have crazy ideas and I change my mind, and I think that's super important. There are two things I always talk about: the importance of being creative, as much as possible, and at the same time disciplined. That's where we talk a little about ambidexterity.
I'm creative, naturally I'm more open to doing different things, always. But I discovered that, to achieve big goals or do great things, you need to have discipline and stay more or less in the same direction, even when things go wrong, making small adjustments.
Even though I'm not naturally disciplined —in fact, some people say: 'Fabrício, you know how to speak in public, talk in the long term, you know how to be disciplined—, most of these points I learned because I thought they were good characteristics to build the story that I wanted to build. So you can learn to speak in public, to be disciplined, even if it doesn't happen naturally. To build a company, a dream, a purpose which is difficult, you need discipline over time.
So I forced myself to have the creative side, but to have the side that says 'look, I have this plan, which will be executed this way, these are the dates, I will have the discipline to bring people together, count, communicate, fulfill that agenda. It was essential to have this side to make the story of iFood and Movile move forward.”
Fabricio in everyday life
“My routine today involves physical exercise in the morning, four times a week I do gymnastics, one hour, two, three. Normally on the weekend I do two or three hours and, during the week, one hour. This was super important to me. It had nothing to do with my life five years ago, I was totally zero exercise. Now I think it's very good for your health, it's very good for your head.
I always start the day with exercise, then I try to spend a few hours without having too many pre-scheduled meetings from 9 am to 12 pm, so I have some flexibility in the day. I always have meetings at this time, but I schedule them the day before, because that way I have some flexibility in my day.
Then I have ten meetings a day, every half hour, non-stop, on many topics. The difficult thing about being president of a very large company is that there are many very different and unconnected issues. Sometimes I have a half-hour meeting about accounting, finance, another with someone from Colombia, Europe, the United States, then I read a book about creativity, an innovation meeting.
Being able to organize this change of context several times a day is a huge challenge, but it is also part of the fun of having a company like this. You can do a lot of different things, learn and experience different things, meet different people, who I admire, I think that’s the best.”
Impact of iFood
“What really excites me is that we have the possibility of doing so many cool things. I have the obligation and responsibility to dream bigger even today, to dream of the impact we can have. I have several different big dreams. I started talking about a big dream by the way, and our dream here at iFood is to feed the future of the world.
It's a company that has 5,000 very good people, with investment capacity, who can have a huge impact and provide a service that helps 40 million people a year. Our dream is, in fact, to feed the future of the world. We want to not only be incredible and deliver good food for everyone's budget, that is healthy, for special moments. At the same time, we want to feed the future, which for us means contributing to Brazil being a better place, contributing to education, the environment, inclusion, reducing historical inequalities.
And the future of the world, again, requires something to not only think big, but also for the environment — we want to be a zero-carbon company and a reference in clean energy and production without polluting the environment. I always had a big dream like this. But now we have the possibility to make it true. We have investment capacity, very good people, so I have even more responsibility and it is super serious that we want to be one of the biggest companies in the world with the biggest impact in the food segment and in our purpose of feeding the future of the world.”
Personal dreams
“My big personal dreams: to continue being a person who inspires, who is honest, who builds a cool country, to continue to be very close to my family, to have a happy family, more than successful and with money, to live well and enjoy what you are doing.
I'm from Salvador, I lived there until I was 18, my family is not only from Salvador, but from Ilhéus and Mutuípe. Since I was little, I have always dreamed of working with technology, and computers, with robots, with space, with innovation, with learning new things. It's a real passion of mine. I study a lot and work a lot because I think I'm doing something really cool, with a purpose and a direction that I like. In fact, something I always say is: the secret to succeeding is being passionate about what you do.
I love what I do since I started working with computing. I started studying computing at the age of eight and selling computer software at the age of 13. I went around shopping centers trying to sell my software, but no one would buy it. I made a lot of mistakes over the 13, 14, 15 years. My mother bought a lot of my software, my relatives did too, and then I started selling a little abroad. So it was always a fun passion. I had fun along the way, in learning, testing, going wrong, going right.”
Faculty
“I had this passion for working with technology and space, with flying. I've always had a passion for flying: planes, helicopters and things like that. I thought: 'I need to go to São Paulo, because there are the best technology colleges and study centers there'.
Then I passed Unicamp and moved to Campinas. I love Unicamp, which had that entrance exam that, for me, encouraged being ambidextrous: being good at exact sciences, but also at humanities and having a very open mind to study different things.
I entered college with big hair, played the guitar, thought about creative and different things, so I was much less disciplined and executive, like people think I am today. I was super excited and grateful. In fact, I am grateful for everything: for the opportunity to be at Unicamp, for how much I learned there, for the friends I keep to this day.”
Family
“I'm married to Cissa, I have four daughters and we live in São Paulo. I spend a lot of time with family. We have to spend time with our children, educate them, talk about the future, listen to what they think and dream and their problems. So I always have to find time to stay at home, read a story book with them, talk about Tik Tok, explain the importance of reading books too.
People think like this: 'you must be very distant because you are always busy'. I'm always busy, including spending time with my family, which is a very important value for me. And I also have a huge family in Bahia, a lot of people, 50 people. I love seeing them, traveling to Bahia to meet them. Once a year we meet this whole family, put everyone on the bus and go traveling around Bahia. I love being close to family too.”
Read more:
- iFood invests in new computing research hub at Unicamp
Fabrício Bloisi is the new member of the XPRIZE innovation board
10 interesting facts you didn't know about iFood
Fabricio Bloisi wins Value Innovative Leadership award
