Zarine is the founder of JustGiving, the online fundraising website. The site launched in 2001, followed two years later by its US offshoot FirstGiving.
Zarine started her professional life at law firm Linklaters. She moved into investment banking in 1984 to join Credit Suisse First Boston’s Asia Pacific team, and advised on some of the earliest privatisations. She was part of the small group that started CSFB’s initial Emerging markets and eastern European activities of CSFB.
After three years at Simmons and Simmons, Zarine joined MC Securities as Executive Director in 1995, one of the founding members of the team. She led the launch of its Warsaw office, responsible for strategy and operations, including public market and private equity.
At a time when her peers were happily planning their retirement, she became fascinated by the internet and spotted the opportunity for a low-cost, no-risk service for charities. The idea for JustGiving was born in the summer of 1999.
JustGiving won the prestigious ‘Best of the Web’ New Media Age award in 2002 for its revolutionary use of the medium for social good. This year, the company won the ‘Best Use of Technology’ award in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100, the list of the fastest-growing private technology companies in the UK.
Zarine holds a BA in law from Cambridge University and was awarded the RSA’s Albert Medal in 2009 for ‘democratising fundraising and technology for charities’. She is a social animal who loves travelling, food and the theatre.