Newly appointed channel sales manager, for Seagate Middle East, Aysha Mir began her career with a company called Ideal Hardware before it was acquired by Bell Micro Products.
It was her role at Ideal Hardware that she believes enriched her go-getter attitude.
“I learnt the most when I was sat on the phones at Ideal Hardware, cold calling. It was a tough environment and we were on commission only- so even if you got a rejection on a call you had to get back on the phone and make the next call. That’s where I acquired my ability to take on criticism knowing that I can never know everything” she says.
She is quick to point that she is extremely proud of her professional accomplishments at Microsoft, prior to joining Seagate. “I began my stint at Microsoft in the partner team, one of the first 10 people to kick-start the initiative, today the team constitutes over a 100 members. I then moved to work on the customer side of the business and later in the anti-piracy team,” she says.
Mir then settled into her role at Seagate as channel manager for the UK and has recently moved to the UAE to look after the company’s expanding business in the region.
She believes that her ability to ask questions without worrying about looking ‘silly’ perhaps helped her in her journey. “I remember when I was at Ideal hardware, and I was the only girl in about 15 new recruits, I kept my head down and worked hard, speaking to the top earners in the company about how they hit their targets. I used some of that advice and started hitting higher targets, until one day I was promoted to the managed accounts team,” she says.
She says that while many a late night is spent working, she’s careful never to neglect her family and friends. Mir takes time out for cosy dinners and movies with her loved ones as often as possible.
Passionate about photography, she makes the most of every opportunity and hopes to enjoy a year long sabbatical to travel the world with her sister armed with her beloved SLR camera.
