Background
He was born into the Parsi Wadia family. He is the grandson of Neville Wadia and Dina Wadia, and the great grandson of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, and Maryam Jinnah.
He was born into the Parsi Wadia family. He is the grandson of Neville Wadia and Dina Wadia, and the great grandson of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, and Maryam Jinnah.
After completing his education at Lawrence School, India, Ness studied in England at Millfield School. Ness studied International Relations at Tufts University near Boston, Massachusetts, and then went on to do his M.Sc in Engineering Management at University of Warwick.
He is Managing Director of the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation, a company which has holdings in most of the Wadia Group subsidiaries, including an indirect majority stake in Britannia Industries. He was the Joint Managing Director of Bombay Dyeing, the flagship company of the Wadia Group, till March 2011 when he stepped down from the post. Wadia is a co-owner of the Indian Premier League cricket team Kings XI Punjab along with business man Mohit Burman & actress Preity Zinta.
Ness"s younger brother, Jehangir Wadia, is the Managing Director of group companies Bombay Dyeing and GoAir.
Wadia joined Bombay Dyeing in 1993 as a Management Trainee. During his earlier period he was closely involved in marketing and retail distribution of the textile division of the company and was active in various organisations such as the Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL) (a council he once chaired), Mill Owners’ Association (MOA), Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India, et cetera
In 1998, he took a leave of absence to complete his master"s degree in Science of Engineering Business Management from the University of Warwick with a thesis titled "Leading to Success in India". After receiving his master"s degree in 2001, he returned as Deputy Managing Director of Bombay Dyeing and was later promoted to Joint Managing Director.
Ness was appointed Managing Director of Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation.
In 1998, 1999 and 2000 he was appointed on the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade & Industry and in September 1998 was appointed the Convenor of the Special Group Task Force on Food and Agro Industries Management Policy in September, 1998. In 2008, along with his then girlfriend, Preity Zinta, Wadia acquired ownership rights for the Mohali-based Twenty20 cricket team of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The group paid $76 million to acquire the franchise, and named the team Kings XI Punjab.
Wadia serves as director on the boards of group companiesBritannia Industries Limited., Wadia Bachelor of science in nursing Limited., and Nowrosjee Wadia & Sons Limited. He is also a director of Gherzi Eastern Limited., Tata Iron & Steel, Tata Chemicals, and other companies and is also a member of the Managing Committee of the Nehru Centre in Mumbai.