Ms. Zenobia Driver is the Founder-Director of Escape Velocity, an evidence-based boutique Market Strategy and Marketing Consulting firm that she founded in 2009 and has over 21 years of experience across various sectors. After graduating in Chemistry with an Integrated M.Sc. degree from IIT Bombay in 1998, she completed her postgraduate diploma in Business Administration from IIM Bangalore in 2000.
She has advised multinational corporations (MNCs), large Indian corporates and midsize firms, on entry strategy, growth strategy, branding and communication, including digital and social media strategy. Her work spans across diverse industries such as Consumer Goods, Health and Wellness, Education, Retail, Chemicals, etc., both in India and abroad. She has also advised reputed not for-profits on communication strategy and plans.
Prior to founding Escape Velocity, Ms. Zenobia worked with The Monitor Group and Momentum Strategy. She began her career in a line role in Johnson & Johnson, India in Sales and Marketing.
Ms. Zenobia is also one of the founder members of Training Resources for Enabling Enterprises (TREE) Society, an NGO that equips rural microentrepreneurs with appropriate business skills. She is the co-owner of the Sales and Marketing module of these programs, and has trained over 200 micro-entrepreneurs.
As part of the core group of the Healthcare SIG of the IIT Bombay 17 Alumni Association (IITBAA), Ms. Zenobia connected Healthcare and Life Sciences sector to the Institute, with the intent to ensure that research is market-ready and commercially-viable. She spearheaded several Healthcare SIG events that build a sustainable ecosystem which connects alumni, faculty, current students, industry, start-ups and clinicians, thus cross-pollinating ideas and helping research and start-ups scale.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, she focused on initiatives that helped families of students and alumni affected by Covid. She led the effort to expand the mandate of the Benevolent Fund of IITBAA for medical expenses and initiated a project with the Rukavipa Foundation to assist with education fees of siblings of IIT Bombay students.
Currently, Ms. Zenobia is part of the core group of a unique project undertaken by the alumni community – the funding, design and construction of a 1000-1500 room Hostel Complex for students that is built to global standards. She leads the outreach and fundraising team for Hostels 10 and 11. She has been on the Board of Directors of IITBAA since 2016. Between 2018-19, she served as the Treasurer of IITBAA. She is currently the Project Lead for the Benevolent Fund of IITBAA and the Executive Editor of Fundamatics, the alumni magazine.
Ms. Zenobia’s hobbies include reading, travelling, hiking and bird-watching. She manages her time as best as she can to balance work and other interests. She wishes she had multiple lifetimes to fit in everything, but is making do with just the one.