Ajay Goyal

Ajay Goyal (born 12 July 1965) is a global entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist and writer.

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 worked simultaneously for a year as an engineer and international business development executive at Indian export house Fortune International Ltd. He joined Mekaster India as an export executive to Eastern European markets in 1988.

In 1989, Goyal left India to explore business opportunities in Germany and Eastern Europe.

He was founding partner of Comecon Overseas Ltd in 1989 and relocated to Moscow during perestroika years.

He founded a historic first joint venture Indian-Russian software technology company Eurolink in 1990.

In 1991, he spent days and nights in protest against the coup in human chains outside the Russian White House where Boris Yeltsin was taking a stand against the junta that ousted Mikhail Gorbachev.

He is the founder, owner of Europe's first five star yoga themed sustainable resort hotel Zening Resorts Goyal founded the Norasco Group in Cyprus in 1993 with branches in Switzerland, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Singapore and India.

He is founder of over than 20 ventures.

He is presently founder and CEO of AGV ( Ajay Goyal Ventures, a Norasco company), an E learning, E commerce, Travel, Reg Tech and Health Tech incubator investing in European startups.

Goyal is author of book "Uncovering Russia".

He founded a private equity and counter-trade company Norasco Ltd. in 1993 that grew to 240 employees and offices in six countries.

Goyal invested in Russian privatization and acquired stakes in several industries in Russia.

He became the single largest shareholder of SovTradeFinan Bank and served as Deputy Chairman of the Board to Chairman Viktor Geraschenko, Chairman of State Bank of Russia.

Goyal founded 8 dot com ventures in Russia.

Goyal lived in Russia amidst political turmoil.

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).

Goyal was Publisher and Editor in Chief of The Russia Journal newspaper published from Moscow, Russia and Washington DC, United States group from 1998 until 2005.

Goyal was born in Kurukshetra, India in a family of esteemed academics.

His father J.B. Goyal, PhD, authored 30 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.

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.

In 1998, Goyal founded The Russia Journal, a newspaper published from Moscow, Russia and Washington D.C., United States that was distributed throughout Europe.

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.

In 1999, he launched popular dating site match.ru, Loot.ru, a Russian classifieds site.

In 2000, The Russia Journal filed anti-monopoly complaints against the largest print media company of Russia.

The investigative and hard-hitting journalism of Goyal's newspaper in Russia made him a target for many threats and lawsuits from Russian oligarchs.

He was an early supporter of President Vladimir Putin and a staunch critic of "Russia's Robber Barons," including Boris Berezovsky and Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

He served as Publisher and Chief Editor until the journal's last publication in 2005.

The Russia Journal investigated Russian oligarchs and became known for its independence.

The newspaper was known for its bold, uncompromising investigative coverage of Russia, where equal opportunity was given to reporters and columnists from the left and right.

Goyal spoke out against the hypocrisies of certain western press organizations and businesses in a documentary titled Cold Politics that was broadcast on Russia's state-owned television channel ORT in the run up to the 2012 Presidential elections.

During his years as publisher of The Russia Journal, Goyal was the target of pranks from The eXile's Matt Taibbi.

Goyal ended up publishing Taibbi as a columnist for The Russia Journal, and allowed Taibbi to publish his own criticism in the journal.

Goyal praised Taibbi for his bold and truthful reporting from Russia when he left The eXile and Russia to work in the United States, and later became lead reporter at Rolling Stone magazine.

Goyal and the newspaper were also a target for Mike McFaul, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia and former professor at Stanford, who, after a slew of angry emails, threatened to sue The Russia Journal.

During his time in Russia, Goyal went on to create additional market-leading internet companies in news, classifieds, entertainment, and jobs.