Jacob Mannothra
Jacob is the founder of Zindia Forestry, a multinational company headquartered in New Zealand with subsidiaries in the US, South Africa, and India. With 27 years of expertise in marketing sustainable timber products—including pine and eucalyptus—he has also led major initiatives in logistics and shipping.
He led the development of India as a major market for imported pine, growing it from zero to 1.8 million m3 (JAS), making India the third-largest destination for New Zealand’s sustainable softwoods. He also spearheaded the expansion of softwood exports from Germany, South Africa, and the US, as well as pine and eucalyptus from Uruguay and Argentina to India.
Jacob was instrumental in opening new markets for New Zealand’s forest products in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Malaysia. Under his leadership, Zindia won the Best Exporter to India Award. Zindia continues to expand its markets and now exports to Vietnam, Japan, and China as well.
His companies have acquired and managed approximately 10,000 acres of pine plantations in Marlborough Sounds and Northland, New Zealand, including former holdings of Weyerhaeuser and Rayonier.
Recognized as an India timber expert, Jacob is passionate about sustainable plantation forestry and has presented on the Indian market at international conferences in the US and Canada. He was instrumental in developing India as a market for Weyerhaeuser and Canfor, and is now leading Zindia’s efforts to establish a timber industrial park in Mundra, India, in partnership with Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone.
Jacob was a member of New Zealand’s official delegations to India in 2011 and 2016, led by then-Prime Minister Sir John Key, and in 2020, led by Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Winston Peters. He is a member of the India New Zealand Business Council and the Forest Product Export Committee of New Zealand. Jacob was recognized for promoting rubber wood as an eco-friendly timber through the Global Rubber Wood Project (ITC/UNTCTAD/WTO) and served as an advisor on organic farming to India’s Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).
In addition to his wood-product business ventures, Jacob is a media publisher and owner of Indian Newslink, known for its credible journalism and motivational events. He is a keen practitioner of yoga and believes in an organic-based lifestyle.