Celebrating South Asian Heritage Month with Shaz

Tell us about yourself

My heritage is Pakistani and I was brought up by a single mum and had a tough upbringing. I love learning about others and building on my leadership skills to one day become a board member in a major corporate. I have 2 children one of which fought cancer for nearly 5 years and came out of remission just after COVID lockdowns ended.

What has your 21-year career at Vodafone been like?

I joined Vodafone as a Sales Advisor in Retention working for Singlepoint and we were bought out by Vodafone. My role was to upgrade and upsell to customers but I never at the time saw any role models to aspire to in Vodafone, with someone from my background, colour of skin and even from my faith. I wanted to be that person to inspire others.

I very quickly worked hard in Sales and got involved in initiatives that would help me learn – going from Advisor to Manager. I also won awards for being able to deliver my commercials time after time. It was always difficult as throughout interviews and processes, at the time I felt I had to work harder to prove myself and step up. 

Regardless, of all my roles, I performed well, and then I moved into Vodafone Business. I worked again hard learned the trade – and realised quickly with a plan, thinking and self-development I could progress in my career.

A secondment opportunity came along and I grabbed it with both hands. I wanted to make a personal difference, and with a few setbacks & challenges, I persevered and pushed to move into Business to lead the SME team within 6 months of moving across.

I accelerated my learning on how to execute and get things done, learned and developed both theory and practical methodologies common to technology delivery and pushed for progression. I was rated top performer or top talent intermittently throughout my career. I was used as the guy to help get things done and unblock big challenges, and I thrived on those challenges. I thought differently about the same scenarios, thought about the process, people and what the outcomes could look like and was ruthless in moving forward with my plans.

From Programme Management, I moved into a Planning area managing the PMO teams. I love tech but have never worked in technology. But now I work in Technology Delivery for a brilliant team and leadership, where I am now building on my skills for the next step in my career.

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself...

I'm a proud side hustler! I have had so many side hustles, from negotiating deals and electronics to creating a prize draw company to build a following on social media with minimal costs. Currently, I am elevating and building an events business that focuses on enhancing party/wedding/social events for little cost to the customer through 360 photobooths and experiences.

This idea came about as I wanted to do something that made a difference to people. We donate regularly locally and we take on inexperienced staff to build on skills and help them with a reference and basic skills such as dealing with guests. This side hustle I started with £4k investment, and now, it has doubled equipment, 10 people working or gaining experience, and the evolving technology and ideas just keep coming.

Why do you think celebrating South Asian Heritage Month is important?

Celebrating South Asian Heritage is so important to me, I think a lot of my culture has influenced and fueled me, and we should recognise and find those people who help inspire others and genuinely give them an opportunity to grow.

Reminding people that there is opportunity for all, it doesn’t come on a plate and you so have to work for it, but times like this is what sparks people like me to step and step forward, and be bolder. Also with what is going on in society, irrelevant of background or colour of skin, we are human and the vast majority of us want to work with everyone in a safe environment and help learn both ways. Vodafone is brilliant at promoting this but I think it is important to remember – talking about things like this helps people connect and provokes important discussion.

Why is Vodafone a great place to work?

At Vodafone, there's a diverse amount of opportunities and challenges, and the culture created here means we're always working in a learning environment. I am still meeting different styles of leadership that I haven't come across before, and I work with people who have a really wide set of skills and experience.