Drive, Determination & Grit – Meet 31-Year-Old CEO Jigna Varu

by Mani Hayre
@Mani_Hayre
 
 
Fresh from her studies, where she passed with flying colours, in Executive Leadership from Saïd Business School, Oxford University, Jigna sat down with me to discuss her incredible rise to CEO at the tender age of 31.
It wasn’t always easy for the bubbly and outgoing Jigna. Growing up in Plumstead, South London her family were the victims of an armed robbery when she was just six years old. Such a life changing event had a profound impact on Jigna and her family, who owned two restaurants at the time.
 

 
It spurred a move to the Midlands, Leicester to be precise, where Jigna tells me she became a “massive introvert” due to the trauma at such a young age. She was, however, passionate about the sciences and particularly biology at school, which she later pursued when she went back to London, for her degree.
Unfortunately, another traumatic event, this time a six-car pileup, which lead to 18 months of recovery and leaving university unfi...