Zarine Kharas

Dame Zarine Kharas DBE (born June 1951) is a British businesswoman, and the co-founder, with Anne-Marie Huby and Uday Khemka, of Justgiving, an online giving platform.

Biography Kharas was born on 14 June 1951, in a Parsi family and grew up in Karachi, Pakistan, the daughter of a civil engineer father, Cursetjee and mother, Parin Kharas. She attended Karachi Grammar, Pakistan then went to the UK, in the late 1970's to study law at Girton College, Cambridge.

She graduated with a BA (Hons) in Law and began work for Lawrence Graham and Linklaters & Paines, both solicitor firms specialising in corporate and financial law. She then joined Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB). When the head of CSFB, Hans-Joerg Rudloff, left to start his own investment banking operation, MC Securities, she followed him, becoming responsible for strategy and operations in Warsaw.

She lives in Maida Vale, London Kharas met Anne-Marie Huby at Médecins Sans Frontières in 2000 where they discussed the concept, Huby left her post and the pair then set up JustGiving and launched the website in February 2001. When Blackbaud took over the company, Kharas left the company.

Honours In 2009 she was awarded the Royal Society of Arts Albert Medal for “democratising fundraising and technology for charities.”