Ajay Goyal

Ajay Goyal (born July 12, 1965) is the founder, owner, and president of Zening Resorts Ltd. Goyal was Publisher and Editor in Chief of The Russia Journal newspaper group from 1998 until 2005. He is a philanthropist, public speaker, and serial entrepreneur.

Goyal was born in Kurukshetra, India in a family of esteemed academics. His father J.B. Goyal, Ph.D., authored 28 published books on Hindi literature and Sikh culture and was the Dean of faculty of the arts and languages at Kurukshetra University in India. His mother, a doctorate in literature, was a university professor.

Goyal graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Engineering in mechanical engineering from National Institute of Technology in Kurukshetra, India in 1986.

In 1987, Goyal began his career on the Indian national television network Doordarshan, where he was a quiz show host and an anchor for youth and cultural programs. He made his first visit to Russia that same year. He worked simultaneously at Fortune International Ltd. and then Mekaster India as an export executive to Eastern European markets.

In 1989, after three years at Doordarshan, Goyal left for Russia and soon became a partner in (and later sole owner of) counter-trade company Norasco Ltd. with 240 employees and offices in six countries. Norasco Ltd. was a private equity and counter-trade firm. Goyal founded 8 ventures in Russia, Ukraine, India and Europe during these years.

Goyal lived in Russia amidst political turmoil and took an active part in politics. In 1991, he spent two nights in human chains outside the Russian White House where Boris Yeltsin and his comrades had held themselves up after the failed coup that ousted Mikhail Gorbachev. In 1997, Goyal wound up or sold his business interests, citing high corruption, crime, and western investors’ irrational exuberance over Russia, and took a sabbatical at the Harvard Institute of International Development (HIID). In 1998, the Russian economy collapsed in default, and the 1998 Russian financial crisis ensued.

Goyal did not complete his program at Harvard and demanded his money back after disagreements with program director Jeffrey Sachs over its Russia aid programs. HIID was dissolved in 1999 after scandals and the Russian Aid Controversy rocked Harvard’s Russia programs. Goyal returned to Russia to launch new ventures.

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