Head of Meesho Foundation

Job description

#### **About the Team** 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 thestrategy 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 toNITI 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 ### What You Will Need - 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 **Ideal Background Archetypes** - 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. ### Why This Opportunity Is Unique • 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