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We have greatly sharpened the WZCC  (World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce) brand in Poona. Over the past 15 years, we have not only provided a platform to budding entrepreneurs to showcase their products and services, but have also set up a youth wing for ages 20 to 35, and a division for women entrepreneurs,” stated Tehmasp Bharucha, chairman of WZCC-Pune, at a function celebrating the chapter’s 15th anniversary held on February 29, 2020 at Hotel Aurora Towers in Poona. The event was sponsored by WZCC-Pune member Aspi Kanga of Trafalgar Tours.
Chief guest and keynote speaker Lila Poonawalla, industrialist, philanthropist and founder of the Lila Poonawalla Foundation, commended the Parsi community’s prominent role in establishing the industrial base in India. "Parsis have always been successful entrepreneurs. They are employers rather than employees,” she said.
Poonawalla shattered many a glass ceiling throughout her career as an engineer in a field dominated by men when she was appointed managing director of Swedish machinery manufacturing company Alfa Laval India in Poona. After retiring from the corporate world, she set up her Foundation in 1996 to provide scholarships to girls from needy families to pursue their education. Since then, the Foundation has transformed the lives of nearly 10,000 girls and their families. "Some of the girls were from such impoverished families from Poona, Amravati and Wardha districts of Maharashtra that they would come to the interview barefoot. But they have gone on to achieve a lot and are now working for companies like the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration),” Poonawalla revealed proudly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also present at the function were the WZCC India regional director Capt Percy Master, treasurer of WZCC India region Xerxes Dastur, members of the WZCC international board Adi Siganporia and Phiroze Kharas, as well as WZCC chief executive officer Aspi Antia. Master congratulated the Pune chapter on its completion of 15 years and lauded the active role played by the past chapter chairs and other members. A trophy was presented to the WZCC-Pune chapter’s current chairman Bharucha and former chairman Viraf Deboo by WZCC India region and the international board.
As part of the anniversary celebrations, WZCC-Pune presented plaques to four awardees who have excelled in their chosen fields (see "The feted four,” facing page). The Pride of Pune Zoroastrian Entrepreneur Award was presented to Cawas Pundole of C. T. Pundole and Sons, Poona, India’s oldest authorized luxury watch dealer. The Pride of Pune Zoroastrian Professional Award went to noted neurologist Dr Rustom Wadia. The Pride of Pune Zoroastrian Youth Award went to Vahbiz Bharucha, a physiotherapist who captains the Indian women’s rugby team. The Pride of Pune Zoroastrian Social Entrepreneur Award was given to Sanaya Bharucha, manager of Special Projects and Outreach at Teach for India (TFI).
WZCC-Pune members believe despite the slowdown of the global economy, there are many opportunities. "It is up to our youth to make the most of the chances that are coming and will continue to come their way,” Tehmasp Bharucha told Parsiana. "We need to motivate, guide and encourage our youth to opt for trade and commerce instead of settling for a so-called steady and comfortable job. We need to rekindle the spirit of entrepreneurship in our community. WZCC is firmly committed to encourage, mentor and hand-hold youngsters in their entrepreneurial pursuits.”
Towards that end, the WZCC-India has already implemented an entrepreneurship funding plan, offering up to Rs 25 lakh interest-free loans repayable in easy instalments to budding Zoroastrian businessmen. WZCC plans to organize business fairs and conferences, and to provide corporate training, consulting, public relations and other services. Members also benefit from WZCC-Pune’s partnership with the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture. It is hoped that these strategies will enable and encourage the community’s youths to venture into the field of entrepreneurship.
It was in February 2004 that the Poona chapter — the third WZCC chapter in India after Bombay and Delhi — was founded with the support of the city’s eminent Zoroastrians, including the late Dr Keki Grant, and the Forbes, Damania, Pudumjee, Anklesaria and Poonawalla families among others. Poona being a hub for the manufacturing and information technology sectors, WZCC-Pune has focused on promoting entrepreneurship and facilitating business amongst its members, offering B2B (business to business) contacts, training placements, internships, guidance, mentoring and networking facilities.

 

The feted four
Widely acknowledged as Poona’s most senior and distinguished neurologist, soft-spoken and unassuming Wadia was the eldest among those felicitated. At the age of 84, he continues to put in a full week’s work as a consultant at the Ruby Hall Clinic which he joined way back in 1962.
In a career spanning nearly six decades, Wadia has served as president of the Indian Academy of Neurology (IAN) from 2006-07, and subsequently as president of the tropical medicine subsection of IAN in 2012. He has been conferred the honor of Professor Emeritus in Neurology at Poona’s Sassoon Hospital, and the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Research Society Sassoon Hospital and B. J. Medical College in 2007. He has contributed more than 100 articles to medical journals and to various textbooks, including the API (Association of Physicians of India) Textbook of Medicine. He has also served on the editorial board of various medical journals in India. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 When asked by Parsiana the secret behind staying active in his 80s, Wadia smiles. "The driving force for me has always been teaching medical students. I have derived much satisfaction from sharing my knowledge with others. I have been a very good teacher and have taught thousands of students. Students sit with me when I am in the Outpatient Department, and learn about diagnosis and treatment through observation. My greatest joy and satisfaction comes from knowing that many of my students have reached the highest level in the medical profession.” Heights that Wadia has himself reached and maintained.
Pundole is the fourth generation of the family to head the 111-year-old C. T. Pundole and Sons. "The company was set up by my great grandfather Cawas Tehmul Pundole. My entire family is involved in the business,” Pundole told Parsiana. "While growing up I used to go to the store during my school holidays and watch my parents, grandparents and brother at work, so I learned the trade from a very young age. Although I studied engineering, I joined my parents in the family business at the age of 20 in the late 1970s.” 
Pundole started his career in the family’s store on Poona’s bustling Laxmi Road as a distributor for HMT watches. The business prospered as the company became a byword for reliability, earning the respect of dealers and customers. In 2003, Pundole relocated to the flagship store on Mahatma Gandhi Road, where he has been joined by the fifth generation — his son Hormuz and daughter Aviva.
The company now has 13 stores selling high-end Swiss and Japanese watches. Crediting their business success to hard work and sincere customer service, Pundole adds that he felt "overwhelming happiness” at receiving the recognition from WZCC-Pune. He was unable to attend the ceremony, but his award was collected by his wife Hutokshi, children Hormuz, Parinaz and Aviva and his grandchildren. The latter are likely to become the sixth generation to enter the business, proving that some family establishments do stand the test of time.
Energetic and vibrant, Vahbiz Bharucha has the distinction of being the only Parsi associated with rugby in India. Equally dedicated to her profession (physiotherapy) and her passion (rugby), she divides her day equally between the two.
Having always been actively involved in sports, Vahbiz watched her first rugby game in Poona while still in the 10th grade, and was instantly smitten. She signed up for practice sessions under coach Swapneel Khare of Khare’s Football and Rugby Academy and has been playing rugby ever since.
Within a decade of getting started, Vahbiz has taken part in 16 international and 14 national tournaments, securing podium finishes in several, and currently captains the Indian women’s rugby sevens and fifteens teams. Under her leadership, in 2019 the Indian women’s fifteens team bagged their first-ever victory over Singapore, beating them 21-19.
For her excellence in and contribution to the field of sports, Vahbiz received the Doordarshan Sahyadri Hirkani Award in 2016, the Phoenix Leading Lady Award in 2018 and the Times Power Women Award in 2019. But the award presented to her by WZCC-Pune is "special and extremely gratifying because it is recognition from my own community.”
Sanaya Bharucha studied at St Mary’s School in Poona and immediately after graduating from Ness Wadia College of Commerce, joined TFI at the age of 21.
A non-profit organization, TFI is part of Teach for All (TFA), a fellowship that recruits college graduates and professionals to serve as full-time teachers in low-income schools. TFA’s aim is to redress the imbalance that exists in the education system and to provide first-rate education to all children, irrespective of their economic background.
"I worked with TFI for eight years and have been with TFA for over two years now, as Director of Community Impact and Student Leadership,” Sanaya reveals. "TFA works across 53 countries and reaches several lakhs of children the world over.” Among the many distinctions that have come her way, Sanaya has represented TFI at the TFA Synergies Network conference in New York. As a youth speaker and facilitator, she has twice addressed the United Nations, including the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity convened by the Prime Minister of Norway, the Presidents of Malawi, Indonesia and Chile, and the director-general of UNESCO. 
"I feel truly honored and humbled to be recognized by the community for my work over the last decade,” she concludes.