Loyal Teams, Transforming Systems & Big Shoes to Fill: Sameer Mohamed on Second-Gen Leadership

Send us a textSameer Mohamed shares the story of taking forward his father’s entrepreneurial legacy at Jaleel Holdings and the family office MVK Holdings. His father, a born entrepreneur, started working in his early teens in Coimbatore, experimented with rice trading and eventually moved to the UAE in 1967, doing odd jobs before starting a fruit trading business in 1972. Over time this grew into a group that now spans fruit and vegetable wholesaling, FMCG distribution and related businesses like packaging and logistics.As second generation, Sameer’s biggest challenge was filling the shoes of a serial entrepreneur while staying true to his own nature as a builder and optimizer rather than a constant risk-taker. He joined the business young, had to earn the respect of long-serving employees, and gradually focused on making existing businesses stronger rather than diversifying blindly. Under his stewardship, Jaleel has grown from under 100 people to around 1,800 by concentrating on its core, related verticals and building strong operational discipline. Personally, he draws strength from his faith and intellectually from HBS OPM .Here are the Top 10 Takeaways from the conversation:Foundations in grit and migration Sameer’s father went from child worker and small trader in India to plumber/chauffeur in the UAE, then to founder of a fruit trading business - the company’s DNA is built on hustle and reinvention.People-first culture built over decades The founder created extraordinary loyalty by taking care of employees’ basic needs and their children’s education — a very deliberate, human-centric culture.Empowerment wasn’t a slogan, it was practice Sameer’s father empowered his cousin before him, and then Sameer himself at just 20, giving real authority rather than micromanaging.Second-generation leadership = different strengths, same values Sameer is more conservative and focused on perfecting existing businesses than constantly starting new ones, but he still carries his father’s core values of trust, responsibility and entrepreneurship.Earning credibility as “the boss’s son” takes time He had to gain the trust of employees who had been in the business for years and initially saw him as just the owner’s child with a foreign degree, not as a credible leader.Disciplined focus beats scattered diversification Several unrelated ventures didn’t work out; real growth came from expanding into strategic adjacencies — spinning out distribution, setting up packaging, and then logistics, all naturally connected to their core food and FMCG flows.Trust and integrity are strategic assets, not soft words Paying suppliers exactly on the promised day, honoring WhatsApp commitments - these behaviors build long-term trust and market reputation.Culture-driven operations outperform “fancy” processes alone Simple rules create a culture of accuracy and urgency that dramatically improves efficiency and reduces waste.Technology only works when the organization is ready Early adoption of SAP and warehouse management systems brought both benefits and pain. Sameer now believes in incremental, culturally-aligned tech adoption rather than big-bang upgrades.Long-term thinking and people > short-term gains and pure tech His key principles: avoid short-term decisions, never assume technology can replace people, and recognize that tech actually magnifies the impact of the people who use it.Books recommended: Built to Last

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