Head of Meesho Foundation
Meesho
Meesho’s ecosystem spans millions of sellers, consumers, logistics partners, and content creators across Bharat — many at early stages of their digital journey. The Foundation takes a 20-year view, leveraging Meesho’s distribution, technology, data, and partnerships to create outsized social impact with limited resources. This is not a traditional CSR function. It is a platform-adjacent social venture built from scratch.
About The Role
Democratise internet commerce for all consumers, businesses, and ecosystem partners, not just limited to Meesho, by bridging gaps that market forces cannot solve — through access, affordability, and resilience.
What You’ll Do
- Build the Foundation from zero: Build the strategy and operating model
- Launch 2–3 pilot interventions in the first 90 days based on Meesho’s strategic advantages (distribution, tech, data)
- Own government and institutional partnerships: such as but not limited to NITI Aayog, state livelihood missions, multilateral funders and credible NGOs
- Leverage Meesho’s platform capabilities to design DPI-style solutions for digital literacy, insurance distribution, seller onboarding, and training at scale
- Catalyse ecosystem change: open-source data for researchers, pilot with govt funding/NGOs, nudge companies to invest in Bharat
- Lead and hire the Foundation team including a cross-functional pod (tech, product, design, data science)
- Manage compliance and governance: CSR committee reporting, board-level impact reporting
- 10–15 years in the Indian development ecosystem with deep, trust-based relationships across government (central + state), credible NGOs, and institutional funders
- Demonstrated ability to design and execute programs at scale that measurably improved lives — not just grant-making or compliance
- Comfort operating in a fast-paced tech company with quarterly OKRs, product managers, and engineers
- Builder mindset — this is a 0-to-1 role with no existing team, processes, or legacy programs
- Experience at the intersection of technology and development — digital public, social enterprises, or tech-forward corporate foundations
- Experience with micro-entrepreneurs, small sellers, gig workers, or logistics networks
- Familiarity with impact measurement methodologies and financial inclusion programs
- Development Sector Leader - Led programs at a credible foundation (Tata Trusts, Azim Premji, Dell Foundation) with exposure to tech-enabled interventions. Strong NGO and funder networks.
- Social Enterprise Builder - Built or scaled a social enterprise in financial inclusion, last-mile logistics, or digital literacy for Tier 2+ India. Builder’s mindset + ground-level Bharat understanding.
- Govt-to-Practice Leader - Served at NITI Aayog, a state livelihood mission (JEEViKA, Kudumbashree), or policy think tank, then moved into execution. Deep govt relationships.
- Meesho’s distribution to millions of ecosystem partners across Bharat is a platform most foundations would take a decade to build
- Technology is a first-class lever — you’ll have a dedicated tech, product, and design pod to build DPI-style solutions
- You report directly to the CxOs, with full access to Meesho’s leadership, data, and resources
- The Foundation’s mission extends Meesho’s core purpose to populations the business can’t yet reach profitably