An Ahmedabad-based entrepreneur has shared how he turned to local WhatsApp groups to solve an urgent staffing challenge. Abhilash, CEO and founder of Naxatra Labs, a company that manufactures compact, high-torque motors for electric vehicles and industrial use, revealed the story in a post on X.
“We opened up our new factory and we had significant orders with limited time frame to deliver,” he wrote. “We shifted everything, set up machinery but the challenge was finding line technicians who help us in assembly line. We followed the typical route to ITIs but they had semesters ongoing. Went to contract agencies, they were not ready to support for 15-20 technicians. We spent 5-6 days figuring out every possible way.”
WhatsApp becomes a recruitment tool
When conventional methods failed, Abhilash tried something unconventional. “You know what worked? WhatsApp groups. We went to every nearby shop in the village and shared a job one-pager in Gujarati language. Told them forward it in your local groups, if a person joins and stays in our company for two weeks, we will pay you INR 200. It worked. We hired 20 people within a week. Sometimes normal routes don’t really work but nothing beats first principles approach,” he explained.
Check out the post here:
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{{/usCountry}}Social media users praise the idea
The post quickly drew attention online, with many applauding the ingenuity. One user remarked that WhatsApp had also helped them gain traction while launching a product, adding that it worked “like a charm in many situations”. Another user simply called it “Indian Jugaads working at its best”, while one more commented, “Best thing I read today! Keep growing Abhilash.”
Others shared similar experiences. A user explained that they once created an Instagram page with a made-up name and boosted job posts, which brought in “a ton of DMs asking for jobs”. Another wrote, “Out of the box thinking,” while yet another reflected that “thinking out of the box is a way of life in an entrepreneurial journey.”