Our speakers

Zarin Daruwala, Cluster Chief Executive Officer, India and South Asia Markets (Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka)- Standard Chartered Bank

Zarin Daruwala is Cluster Chief Executive Officer, India and South Asia markets (Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka). In a career spanning over 31 years she has worked across all areas of banking ranging from wholesale banking, agri-finance, corporate finance, corporate planning, investment banking and credit.

She was selected as one of the Top 30 most powerful women in Indian business by Business Today seven times and features in the coveted “BT Hall of Fame” for being a consistent performer. She was also named the 13th most powerful woman in business by Fortune India in 2020. Business World has listed her among the 50 Most Influential Women in India. She has also been recognised for “Outstanding Contribution toward Banking and Financial Services” for 2017-18 by Ladies’ wing of IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Zarin features in “Top 100 Most Influential BFSI Leaders” released by the World BFSI Congress and Awards.

A rank holder in Chartered Accountancy, Zarin has also won the President's gold medal, topping the all India Company Secretary exams. She has also been conferred the CA Business Achiever award by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Prior to Standard Chartered, Zarin worked at ICICI Bank, where she spent 26 years of her career, starting out as a management trainee, eventually becoming President and Head of the Wholesale Banking business. She has also served on the Board of Directors of key ICICI group companies, ICICI Lombard General Insurance and ICICI Securities; and was also on the board of JSW Steel for almost eight years.

Zia Mody, Founder and Managing Partner, ZB & Partners

Ms. Zia Mody is the Founder and Senior Partner of AZB & Partners and one of India’s foremost corporate attorneys. She passed her law degree from the University of Cambridge in 1978 and was enrolled as an Advocate with the Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa in 1978. She did her LLM from Harvard Law School and was then admitted as a member of the New York State Bar by examination in 1980. Ms. Mody worked as a corporate associate at Baker & McKenzie, New York, for five years before moving to India to set up practice, establishing the Chambers of Zia Mody in 1984, which then became AZB & Partners in 2004. Ms. Mody’s abilities are recognized globally, as is reflected in her appointment as the Deputy Chairman and a Non-Executive Director of the HSBC Asia Pacific Board, a member of the World Bank Administrative Tribunal, Washington D.C. (2008-2013), and a Vice President and Member of the London Court of International Arbitration (2010-2013). She serves on various advisory committees of the Confederation of Indian Industry including its National Council and its committees on Corporate Governance, Financial Services, Capital Markets and Legal Services. She was nominated to be part of the “Committee on Rationalisation of Investment Routes and Monitoring of Foreign Portfolio Investments” formed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India under the chairmanship of Shri K.M. Chandrashekar. Ms. Mody was also appointed by the Reserve Bank of India in 2014 as a member of Committee on Comprehensive Financial Services for Small Businesses and Low-Income Households which was chaired by Dr. Nachiket Mor. Ms. Zia Mody has been the recipient of several awards and accolades.

Zishaan Hayath, Founder, Toppr

Zishaan graduated from IIT Bombay in 2005 with a masters degree in Civil Engineering. His career started with Indian FMCG giant ITC Limited. He later worked with consulting firm Opera Solutions to advise Fortune 100 clients across North America, Europe and Asia. In 2008, Zishaan co-founded Chaupati.com, an e-commerce marketplace, which was acquired by Future Group. He co-founded Toppr in 2013. Today, Toppr is India’s leading online learning app with over 5MM students.

Zorawar Kalra, Promoter & Managing Director, Massive Restaurants Private Limited

Zoya Brar, Founder and CEO, Core Diagnostics

Zoya Brar founded CORE Diagnostics, a high-end clinical laboratory, focused on brining innovation to the diagnostic industry in 2012 when she was 23 years old.

Having been brought up in Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Delhi in her early years and her teens by a single mother who was herself a successful healthcare executive, Zoya, in her own words “…. learned about leadership through osmosis,” and honed her leadership skills in various roles while writing for the Youth Parliament, organizing street plays, working for Parivartan an NGO aimed at helping people with disabilities, working directly for the Chairman at the WLC group, as well at the Debating Society and several such initiatives while in school.

Zoya got a bachelor’s degree in Sociology at Lady Shri Ram College. She then worked at Google for 2 years before succumbing to the entrepreneurship bug. She founded CORE, raised INR 25 Crore in initial funding from the Silicon Valley based Artiman Ventures, and in a little over 3 years, has established CORE to be synonymous with innovation in Clinical Diagnostics. Meanwhile, the business has grown nearly 10% every month and has attracted an additional INR 25 Crore in funding.

Zoya is an avid reader of prose and poetry. She writes an occasional blog, and is writing her first book - a work of fiction.

Zoya has spoken at a number of prestigious events including the Medtech Women conference in California, FICC, Heal at Delhi, VCCircle at Bangalore. She has also been featured on a number of television shows including Awaaz Enterpreuneur on CNBC and The Big Idea on Zee News.

Zoya Brar, Founder & Managing Director, CORE Diagnostics | @CoreDiagnostics

Zoya Brar founded CORE Diagnostics, a high-end clinical laboratory, focused on brining innovation to the diagnostic industry, in 2012 when she was 23 years old. Having been brought up in Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Delhi in her early years and her teens by a single mother, herself a successful healthcare executive, Zoya, in her own words “ learned about leadership through osmosis,” and honed her leadership skills in various roles while writing for the Youth Parliament, organizing street plays, working for Parivartan - an NGO aimed at helping people with disabilities, working directly for the Chairman at the WLC group, as well at the Debating Society and several such initiatives while in school.

Zoya got a bachelor’s degree in Sociology at Lady Sriram College. She then worked at Google for 2 years before succumbing to the entrepreneur-ship bug. She founded CORE, raised INR 25 Crore in initial funding from the Silicon Valley based Artiman Ventures, and in a little over 3 years, has established CORE to be synonymous with innovation in Clinical Diagnostics. Meanwhile, the business has grown nearly 10% every month and has attracted an additional INR 25 Crore in funding.

Zoya is an avid reader - or prose and poetry. She writes an occasional blog, and is writing her first book - a work of fiction.