Jacob is the founder and patriarch of our group. A post graduate in Agronomy and a scientist by profession, Jacob is the MD of Zindia and group of companies. He has vast experience in global marketing of timber products, international shipping and management of timber plantations.

Jacob pioneered the very first exports of NZ Pine Radiata logs from NZ to India and paved the way for India to become a regular export channel for softwoods. He has also been instrumental in the development of Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia for imports of softwoods.

With an absolute passion for sustainability and keen knowledge of forestry, Jacob has strong timberland industry relationships and is considered by many in the global timberlands (forestry) sector to be an “India timber expert”.

Jacob was the member of NZ Ex-Prime Minister Sir John Key’s India delegation (representing the Forestry/timber sector) to India in 2011 and 2016. He is an Executive member of the India New Zealand Business Council and the Forest Product Export Committee of New Zealand. He has been awarded by an Indian government agency for his role in successfully promoting Rubber wood globally as an Eco-­friendly timber, has been an advisor on organic farming to the board of Agricultural Export Development Authority of India and has been a Member of the Global Rubber wood Project of ITC/ UNTCTAD/WTO.

Outside of work, Jacob is a media publisher and owns the ethnic fortnightly Indian Newslink which is a significant publication catering to the Indian diaspora in NZ. He is also a keen practioner of yoga and believes in an organic based lifestyle.

Devendra Yadav is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Zindia Limited. A dual degree Executive MBA graduate from INSEAD.

He is a Transformational Business Leader with three decades of proven track record with mega projects, multinational companies, military and United Nations, in Asia, Europe and Africa. Accredited with conceptualization, bidding, design, construction, technology integration, commissioning, operations and profit & loss management of major infrastructure projects in India:

Yamuna Expressway Project (NZ $ 3.2 billion); 165 km integrated expressway
Buddh International Circuit (NZ $ 900 million); Formula 1 race circuit

He has also played the Consultant and Project Manager roles for various management teams/government for infrastructure projects, operations, asset management, safety, project life-cycle management, electronic tolling and new initiatives. Hands-on project manager, specializing in:

Planning and process improvement
Negotiations and contract management
ISO Management Systems (operations, quality, environmental, occupational health & safety)
Start-ups, business strategy and leading multi-cultural teams

He likes to write articles and has published few in the linked in, and one of them was on ‘Decision Making; Art or science ?”

Pradeep has over 35 Years’ experience in Administration, Operations, Loss Prevention and Process Management with the Indian Army, Merchandise Retail, IT, ITES and Education fields. Apart from his rich management experience in the Indian Army, he is also a certified SAP ERP consultant (SAP BusinessOne) and an ISO Lead Auditor.

Pradeep is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, India. His experience with the Air Defence Corps of the Indian Army has helped him hone skills to approach a Business Process scientifically and execute solutions with minute precision. He has worked in various appointments in the Corporate world with different JDs which can be collectively qualified by Business Process Analysis and Reengineering to result in result oriented and easily implementable Operating Procedures.

Personally, he has built a strong professional foundation reinforced with constant evolution in competence in terms of Masters in Electromagnetic & Radar Technologies, Armament and Vehicle Technologies and ERP experience in trade and industry.  This has helped him don many hats. Some of his notable assignments have been Pan India Functions with SQL Star International, Reliance Industries, Inecom, Singapore and Vilasrao Deshmukh Foundation.

Pradeep has an eye for detail and quality which he has relentlessly pursued throughout his career. His ability to keep the team focused on timely deliverables has ensured satisfied and happy customers.

Pradeep firmly believes that there is always time to engage life on the personal front, which is the whole idea in any case! He is an avid wildlife photographer, an enthusiastic and experimental cook which is a stressbuster, a keen golfer and an S D Burman, Mark Knopfler and Ian Anderson fan. All this, after he has finished tending his world of plants and trees whenever at Hyderabad, which is home.

As our Export & Operations Manager, Shankar manages supply chain, logistics and vessel chartering for the group across export operations from multiple countries (including NZ, USA and South Africa). He also oversees all trade finance and trade documentation activities. He has previously also been involved in Log procurement and harvesting management for the group.

Shankar graduated with a Master of International Business degree in 2012 from University of Auckland. He has worked in the anti-dumping and patent commercialization research sectors in the past before joining us in 2013.

Outside work, Shankar is an avid swimmer and enjoys adventure themed travels. He is also a sucker for good techno-thriller books and is notorious for religiously catching-up on the latest sci-fi/fantasy movies at the local theatres.