Meet Nia Karina Tarigan, Meesho Indonesia’s first hire in the customer support team, and find out why she loves solving problems for our entrepreneurs
By: Mangala Dilip
Tags: Culture, Indonesia, Customer Support, Meesho, Women Entrepreneurs

Meet Nia Karina Tarigan, Meesho Indonesia’s first hire in the customer support team, and find out why she loves solving problems for our entrepreneurs Mangala Dilip Follow Dec 24, 2020 · 6 min read

As the first ever member of Meesho Indonesia’s customer service team, there was a lot riding on Nia Karina Tarigan to set the tone for how the company would take care of its entrepreneurs and their needs. Thankfully for this Customer Support Team Lead, catering to the needs of Meesho entrepreneurs comes naturally. From a young age, Karina had been helping her parents who are small business owners in her hometown of North Sumatra, Indonesia deal with customers.

Karina knows exactly how to reassure an upset customer and how to decipher the problems plaguing them, and most importantly she is empathetic to their needs. With a strong inclination for Meesho’s core value of Speed Over Perfection, and the desire to positively impact Indonesia’s economy at large and women entrepreneurs, in particular, this K-Pop superfan has been doing exceptional work at Meesho and leading her team to great heights.

Read on to learn all about Karina’s life at Meesho:

I was born and raised in North Sumatra along with my three siblings, where I helped my parents run their fruits and vegetable market from high school days. From a young age, I have seen them interacting with customers, and I think that was when I developed an affinity for customer obsession and care. Working there I would pay close attention to the language and tone used by the customers, and those observations have held me in good stead. Just based on those things I can say how angry or sad or disappointed or happy a customer is.

These instincts for understanding the customer was further honed when I moved to Bandung in West Java to study Indonesian Literature at the Padjadjaran University. There I learned a lot about Indonesian culture, language, and people. All these further helped me understand how to interact with people, understand their predicaments, and how to help fix them as well. So, as soon as I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree I joined Telkomsel, the biggest telecommunication company in Indonesia, as a customer service representative.

During my time working there, I met with customers directly, helped solve their problems within a predetermined time estimate, and for that I needed to excel at understanding who the person is, and just listen to their problems. This was, I also trained myself to control my emotions and manage my expectations from each customer.

Greener pastures and greater impacts

I had worked at Telkomsel for about three years when I got the opportunity to interview with and later work for Meesho. I was almost immediately impressed with Meesho, not just because of the reputation of Meesho India, but because of all the growth prospects that the company has in Indonesia. Moreover, to work in the company that was tagged as the No.1 reseller app in India, would be a great opportunity for me to grow as well.

Fortunately, my prediction has come true. When I joined Meesho on November 6, 2019, as the first employee in the customer service team, I had my work cut out for me. Despite my years of experience, I needed to understand the various processes of Meesho, and for that, I worked very closely with the Meesho India team under the guidance of Nikita [Dresswala; Director, International Expansion]. Gomathi [Cheenepalli; Quality Analyst — Fulfillment & Experience] and Susbhani [M; Senior Manager — Quality & Training] helped me in the initial stages as I went through all the processes from making cold calls to responding to emails. I would proactively reach out to our entrepreneurs and potential ones to understand their limitations and figure out how Meesho could benefit their lives.

Angry customer? More like an opportunity to grow

I immediately fell in love with the job, because this is the kind of work that I have always wanted to do. There probably aren’t many people who like working with an angry customer, but I live for those interactions. Not only am I able to read the character and personality of an angry customer spontaneously, but I am also passionate about growing and learning from this interaction.

I live by this Bill Gates quote: “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” Unhappy customers are just helping me learn how to be a better agent and giving me more experience to grow, help me understand our system better and it is the greatest learning for me.

In the short year and a half that Meesho Indonesia has been around, it has already had a hugely positive impact on Indonesian society, especially women. Our country has a lot of housewives and single parents without jobs, When I meet the “entrepreneur of the week” or even while just talking to our entrepreneurs, I get to see first hand how Meesho has helped them become financially independent. Many of them often share stories of being finally able to take care of their children’s needs without relying on anyone else, including their spouses.

Taking pride in my work

I feel extremely privileged to play the role that I do in empowering them. Watching them thrive is a matter of pride for me, especially because I also understand that making entrepreneurs out of unemployed women is also helping fortify Indonesia’s economy.

One of the biggest lessons I have learned at Meesho is to prioritise empathy over sympathy. While the latter may force us to exhibit more emotions, empathy is what empowers us to jump into action. Jumping into action, and doing so quickly, is one of the most important aspects of my work. As the Meesho core value goes, Speed Over Perfection is the only way to ensure that all our entrepreneurs are attended to quickly, so that we don’t lose their attention or patience. Moreover, there are more people waiting for their turn as well.

So, being able to help everyone as quickly as I can is one of the most important parameters in my work. I have to speak to multiple entrepreneurs and they must all be happy after I speak to them.

I have been having the best time working at Meesho, and I hope to continue working here for a long time. But I do miss working with my colleagues while working from home. Despite the virtual team lunches and once-in-a-while get-togethers, I really miss working out of the same office with my talented, smart, and reliable team.

But, what has kept me going is my love for K-Pop. I am a huge fan of the musical genre and before the lockdown, I would attend all the shows that my favourite bands Winner and Bigbang would put on in Indonesia. One of my biggest responsibilities outside of Meesho, for me, has been managing the Twitter account for the K-Pop band Winner.

So, here’s to a great set of colleagues, K-pop, and our resilient and gritty Meesho entrepreneurs.

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