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Considerable effort and energy is expended on organizing a global annual general meeting (AGM). To induce World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce (WZCC) members to shoulder this onerous responsibility, global president Edul Davar remarked, "Hosting an AGM can be a profitable event.” He was addressing nearly 100 members from USA, Canada, UK and India at the association’s AGM organized by the Central Florida Chapter at Marriott Springhill Suites, Orlando on May 1, 2019. The Bangalore chapter netted a surplus of $ 3,674 (Rs 2,55,682) from the hosting of the last global AGM in December 2017, noted the report by WZCC global treasurer Katayun Kapadia.

 

 

 

 

"Leverage with other organizations and events like the World Zoroastrian Congress (WZC), World Zoroastrian Youth Congress (WZYC), The WZO (World Zoroastrian Organisation) Trust Funds (WZOTF)” to conduct productive activities, urged Daver. The Zoroastrian Shark Tank, planned in Los Angeles at the Seventh WZYC in July 2019 will endeavor to bring investors and start-ups in the same space and also get investors to buy equity in potential businesses.
The youth will be focusing their energies on incubation in 2019, stated Xerxes Dastur, India director of WZCC, when presenting the report on behalf of the global youth director Jehaan Kotwal who could not attend the AGM. The four other avenues through which the WZCC Youth Wing seeks to impact those in the 18 to 35 age group are networking, mentorship, industry exposure and knowledge sharing.
The coming together of WZCC and WZOTF in India resulted in the creation of a Finance Initiative (FI) that was able to raise Rs 1.5 crores (USD 215,000) to assist Zoroastrian entrepreneurs in India with interest free loans between five to 25 lakh rupees. Nearly one-third of the funds for FI have come from North America (NA). A similar program to promote entrepreneurs in NA will be made possible with the formation of FEZANA (Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America)-WZCC Entrepreneurship Foundation. Currently the two principal community bodies have agreed to incorporate a new funding entity since under its present set-up FEZANA is not permitted to carry out such an activity, and donations to WZCC are not exempt from tax. Once the Foundation is registered it can start receiving and advancing funds. 
When the FI was announced at the Bangalore AGM, the aim was to raise five crore rupees (USD 700,000) over three to five years for operations in India. "We want to create an environment amongst the Zoroastrian community which encourages start-up entrepreneurs and professionals to convert their ideas and knowledge into a successful business that can sustain growth and profits over a long term. Our mission is to generate sufficient funds from corporates and high net worth individuals as donation,” noted Capt Percy Master, president of the WZCC India region.
 Since their goal is "not only to provide funds but to mentor and guide applicants in the correct manner,” selected applicants are helped with preparation of a Business Plan. This document is then reviewed by the Business Advisory Committee, delineated Master. "Please remember, someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. Let us be that someone who did something by which our future generations will remember us,” he urged whilst sharing his observation, "We are and always will be a unique race. We are eccentric but we also produce geniuses. We amassed wealth but we also distributed wealth.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

FI is a corollary to the WZOTF program that extended interest free loans up to Rs 5,00,000 to those who are self-employed in the rural and semi urban areas. Until March 31,  2019, 1,156 beneficiaries have availed of the loans, stated WZOTF chairman Dinshaw Tamboly.
There is a change in the international board of the WZCC with the term of four of its members drawing to an end. Directors and office bearers can serve only two three-year terms. As regional director for India, Master replaces Pheroze Kharas; for USA, Afsaan Kermani replaces Natalie Gandhi; for UK, Dr Zubin Sethna replaces Nauzar Manekshaw, and Perses Sethna comes in as UK regional director; for Hong Kong, "since Neville Shroff is too important, we are not going to let him go. He will serve as a Special Financial and Far East Advisor,” said Daver. Additionally four other directors have opted to retire: Homi Italia of Canada who will be replaced by Dilnavaz Shroff; Parviz Varjavand and Bahram Partovi of Iran who will be replaced by Mehraban Ardeshirian; Porus Guzdar of Middle East who will be replaced by Meher Bhesania. Daver had appreciation awards for all the outgoing directors; those present at the AGM – Italia, Gandhi and Neville Shroff – were  felicitated by Daver. He later pointed out that the new global board had three young adults (constituting 25%) and hoped the next board would comprise over 50%. The WZCC global directors board meetings are now convened on the Zoom platform for one-and-a-half to two hours although this means that those on the east coast of USA have to participate at 1.30 a.m. to suit the majority.
The WZCC award winners this year were: Dr Jennifer Avari Silva of USA who was named Outstanding Zarathushti Entrepreneur; Spenta Kandawalla of Pakistan as Outstanding Zarathushti Professional; Perzen Patel of India as Outstanding Young Zarathushti Entrepreneur; Roshan Bharucha of Pakistan as Outstanding Zarathushti Social Entrepreneur. Dinyar (Dinny) Devitre of USA was made honorary member of WZCC. He joins the ranks of 11 other community members in this prestigious league.
"The jobs portal and advisory portal is underutilized” on the WZCC website, pointed out global vice president Yazdi Tantra who constantly endeavors to make the site more relevant. As part of its focus on global real time communications, on an average they plan two e-blasts (email message that is sent out to many recipients) a month. "Go paperless,” has been the endeavor of WZCC with Tantra training the Mumbai and New York chapters to be environmentally friendly. In the absence of global corporate secretary Adi Siganporia, erstwhile corporate secretary Zarine Commissariat took charge at the AGM in Orlando. She read excerpts from Siganporia’s report where he emphasized that individuals who join not-for-profit organizations like the WZCC should do so with the objective of giving and not getting back.

 

 

 

 

"Everyone can be a member of WZCC; even those from the non-profit, government or education sector,” reminded Daver. When delineating the action plan for the organization in the coming year he stressed on "widening the scope of WZCC…by increasing the number of members and chapters.” He hoped to see a chapter in Perth and two more in India take shape this year.
"Next time, each association should ask itself what it is doing to increase its membership count,” urged Kapadia. She appreciated the efforts of individuals in the London/UK Region and Southern California Chapter to finance WZCC activities. For SynergyZ, the WZCC magazine which was described as "the love child” of Bhesania, the printing costs are borne by the Mumbai Chapter. But for the last 14 years Bhesania has not accepted any payment for the editing, production and development of the journal, noted Kapadia. The contents of this publication will now be re-focused with greater emphasis on business articles.
The average age of attendees came down from 50 to 30 when the UK Chapter planned sessions on artificial intelligence and blockchain (a system in which a record of transactions made in bitcoin or another cryptocurrency is maintained over several linked computers), reported Chapter chair Shernaz Engineer. Occasionally the UK Chapter piggybacks on other bodies like PricewaterhouseCoopers or Guild of Entrepreneurs to facilitate varied exposure for their members, 95% of them being professionals. Engineer referred to Ruzbeh Bacha of CityFalcon whose crowd funding efforts earned him £900,000 instead of the £300,000 support he had sought. Inspired by the Bombay effort, Coffee with WZCC, Dr Zubin Sethna initiated Enterprise Coffee Evenings every month to bring together like-minded London entrepreneurs. Discussions have resulted in varied projects being pursued in development of an IVF (in vitro fertilization)/stemcell bank in London, an educational nursery, a bespoke jewelry enterprise…
With the youth group growing and there being nearly 20 members in the 18 to 30 group in Hong Kong, Shroff hoped "in a few years we could have a WZCC chapter in Hong Kong.” The anjuman periodically provides free dinners for the youth and invites speakers on innovation technology, banking and finance at their meets. They are hoping to send six to eight of their youth for the 7WZYC in Los Angeles.
An overview of five WZCC chapters in USA (New York, Chicago, Houston, Central Florida and Southern California) and two AROs (area representative offices) in Boston and Seattle was offered by US regional director Rustom Engineer. His report was supplemented by Zenia Shroff of Central Florida and Darius Jamshidian of New York. Italia referred to the activities of the Vancouver chapter in Canada with Cyrus Patel reporting on the newly constituted chapter in Toronto. The detailed activities of the other regions, wings and programs were included in the annual report of WZCC.
Whilst the next WZCC AGM will be held in Lonavla, a two-hour drive from Bombay, from January 3 to 5, 2020, the one in 2021 will be held in London. At an evening session Master showed a video of Rhythm Lonavla, the luxury resort that is the venue for the next AGM, whilst Shernaz Engineer presented a video where Lord Karan Bilimoria invited members to the subsequent meet that will be hosted in the House of Parliament.