Jesse van de Zand
CEO & Founder, Janta Meals

Jesse van de Zand is educated as lawyer at the universities of Nijmegen and Amsterdam, where he studied business and tax law. After finishing his masters degree, he joined lawyers firm Kennedy Van der Laan in Amsterdam, working mostly in M&A and litigation.

After four years of work experience and after a three month long trip to India, Jesse decided to join social incubator Enviu in Rotterdam, initially as in-house lawyer. Soon, he started working on Enviu’s projects – a company supporting auto rickshaws in Bangalore and market research projects in rural Gujarat and West Bengal.

During these trips, Jesse met angel investor and philanthropist Prabhat Agarwal. Together they discussed the idea of Janta Meals and decide to do a pilot in mid 2013. Janta Meals was set up with the sole aim of providing the working class in urban India with healthy, nutritious and affordable meals.

When not working, Jesse enjoys playing the guitar.