When Sabir Left a Secure Teaching Job to Help Build a Supermarket

At eChai, we’ve been reflecting on one of the most defining moments in any founder’s journey, the first hire. Not just the first person on payroll, but the one who takes a bet on you when nothing is certain. These stories often carry lessons about trust, resilience, and what it takes to build together from day zero.

For this series, I asked Nadeem Jafri, Founder of Hearty Mart, to share his story. Hearty Mart started in early 2000s in Juhapur when organized supermarkets were still new in India. 

Here’s how Nadeem remembers the context that led to his first hire:

“When Hearty Mart was in the conceptual stage, we had conducted a research and hired a consultant who guided us in creating the supermarket. Organised supermarket creation was an alien thing for us since I didn’t have a consumer products marketing experience, being from media and advertising, nor anyone from my group was experienced enough to do it.

The consultant gave us thorough insights on what it takes to start a store. During the course of conversation we realised we needed an educated person who could handle distributors and overall store operations. Prior experience wasn’t a criteria. What mattered was trust, education and the potential to be nurtured.

That’s when we approached Sabir Momin, who was waiting for a secured teaching job. He was educated with a commerce background, knew computers, and came from Sathal village near my native Dholka. Our families had known each other for generations. Initially, he wasn’t sure, but we suggested he join us until his teaching job materialised. He agreed and came on board just before launch.

A few months later, when his teaching vacancy finally opened up, Sabir made the tough choice to stay with us. At our struggling stage, he placed his trust in Hearty Mart, and that decision pushed us to work even harder to make the store succeed.