Meet the multi tasking & ever dependable Shaik Abdul Raheem —part of Meesho’s hardworking Admin team
By: Amrita Bose
Tags: Startup, Ownership, Culture, Negotiation, Problem Solving

Whether it is our travel arrangements or procuring mobile sims, Shaik Abdul Raheem is the guy all Meeshoites reach out to when we need any admin related help. When in doubt, call Abdul — is our motto at Meesho! From taking care of vendor management to procuring or renting and allocating laptops (before the IT team was set up at Meesho) to new joinees, Abdul is a nimble mulitasker, who makes sure that processes, systems and people are handled seamlessly at Meesho. A North Karnataka native, Abdul first came to Bangalore to pursue an MBA in HR and Marketing. He then worked at a couple of companies in Business Development before switching over to HR admin functions.

Over to Abdul now to learn more about his Meesho experience!

I joined Meesho in April 2018 as the lone HR Admin. Back then Meesho was a leaner team of 135–140 employees and all teams operated out of the same premises (instead of three different offices now). My initial journey was challenging as the office systems back then weren’t streamlined. I started off by handling office administration, but soon found myself getting involved in several ad hoc and administration related tasks at Meesho.

We were a growing team with Meesho scaling at a massive level, and that meant having to find appropriate office spaces to move them into. I began by handling everything from IT issues to allocating laptops and even handling onboarding and initial formalities for new joinees.

Though I had spent almost three years in an admin role at another company before Meesho, the amount of learning I had in the first three months itself was much more than I had ever learned in the three years prior.

At Meesho, not only have I learnt to take on new responsibilities but I actually enjoy the process of working. I have become a bit of a workaholic now, but in a good way!

Especially challenging have been those times when Meesho began scaling its hiring in 2018. We are talking 100–130 hires a month, which meant settling them in and also finding the right facility to move the new workforce into.

What I do at Meesho?

Currently, I am part of Meesho’s admin team at Meesho’s headquarters in Koramangala. I also oversee admin for the other two offices. Today I manage the housekeeping staff, coordinate with the travel desk to help employees for their travel arrangements including visa applications, take care of requisition and delivery of office supplies. I also assign company assets such as mobile phones and their sim cards, and data cards to employees.

Bill processing, vendor management, branding material such as standees, managing the office space — you name it and I have done it.

What have I learnt at Meesho?

First of all, I have learnt how to multitask here — manage things single handedly and how to get them done on time. I have also fine tuned my negotiation skills at Meesho , which means reducing the company’s costs as much as possible with vendors, while still getting the best deals.

I have also learnt to Take Ownership (A core Meesho value) at Meesho. This means sometimes taking on projects like coordinating and managing the Meesho Premier League ( Meesho’s in house cricket championship league) to organising team outings and office parties, and never saying no. Taking ownership also means flexibility in terms of making your own decisions and no one breathing down your neck, which is something I cherish at Meesho.

At Meesho we love to find solutions to problems, rather than sit on them or pass them onto someone else. Finding workable solutions to daily admin related work, while keeping those timelines in mind is what I have imbibed at Meesho. Before I joined Meesho, I was a bit of an introvert, so personally for me working here has helped me improve my social skills immensely and boosted my confidence levels. Especially because as an admin at Meesho, my primary job is to interact with employees all day, and help them find solutions to any issues they might be facing. This means also being able to talk to them.

And the best part is that some of the life lessons I have learnt at work, I love to go back home and teach them to my two daughters.

Want to join team Meesho in creating 20 million entrepreneurs by 2020, then we are hiring across roles. Apply here!