Driving growth: Shweta is growing mobility, her team and her career

Shweta Mantri, Head of Rider Verticals for India and South Asia, drives the introduction and growth of new mobility solutions across the region, digging deep into consumer insights to define what our users need next. 

“To be able to build a great product, it’s important that we truly understand and empathize with what our customers want,” shares Shweta.  One of our key challenges is to scale fast but at the same time solve for key user experience gaps that exist today–that’s the balance that we need to strike between growth and customer experience.”

Defining the growth charter for multiple categories at different stages of maturity involves a mix of marketplace oversight, strategic planning, problem solving and understanding industry developments to bring an outside-in approach to build each category. It’s a juggling act that defines Shweta’s day to day to find the right balance between scaling these businesses and optimising customer experience. We sat down with Shweta to learn more about how she’s growing new mobility categories, her team and her own career.

“I started my journey in local city operations, managing Hyderabad and since then have been part of building many key markets. Whether it was marketplace management, scaling existing categories or launching new ones, we were discovering and developing at the same time. We were very focused on building fast, scaling quickly and bringing the Uber magic to life. But it wasn’t all short-term, I was also responsible for long term growth and profitability

In 2020, I took up a role in the central operations team leading new mobility verticals across India and South Asia. Since then I led categories like Hourly, Intercity, Reserve and Connect, along with some strategic initiatives that are helping diversify Uber’s revenue streams. I feel very fortunate to have worked on some of our most complex problems and alongside some of the smartest minds at Uber–I’ve learned so much from them.” 

“One of our key focus areas is Intercity rides–an India first innovation that enables riders to travel between cities. It’s an existing large traditional business in India that we want to tap into. For riders, it allows them to travel long distances in a stress free, convenient and reliable manner. For earners, it provides a very strong earning value proposition. We are working very closely with the product and engineering teams to build a seamless user experience for this category.”

“This is the most diverse region from a product portfolio perspective. We have a spectrum of categories, two wheelers, three wheelers, cars, intercity and even buses now. This multimodal approach enables us to offer a range of services to meet a variety of use cases at different price points, and ultimately widen our consumer footprint. We have built a large business in the region with strong market leadership and India continues to be one of the fastest growing geographies for Uber. On top of that, we have introduced several India-first innovations that have also gone global such as cash payments, regional language support and implementation of several industry-first safety features. There’s a lot of global support for the long term potential of our region.”

“I am deeply passionate about people leadership and actively spend time developing and coaching my team. Collective success is built by cultivating open communication, encouraging diverse perspectives, and enabling the team to unleash their full potential. I try to create a compelling vision that gives my team direction in terms of what they are expected to achieve, and empower them to take ownership of their work, contribute ideas and make decisions, and help them become the next set of leaders at Uber.”

“As you navigate your career, it is crucial that you continue to challenge yourself, stay resilient, get out of your comfort zone, raise your hand up, and speak up for what you deserve. But most importantly, as leaders, we have the opportunity to make a significant impact and inspire others so lift as you climb! You have to support other women leaders, lift them up, to help them grow as you climb the ladder. I’m truly passionate about this and have also led Women at Uber within India to help provide access to professional development and mentor women to become the best version of themselves.”

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