Mzuzah LUNCH & LEARN Conversations on SUSTAINABILITY

Bob Harvey

Bob Harvey is President and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership, the Houston region’s principal business organization. The Partnership focuses on attracting investment and trade to Houston, building a strong workforce, advocating for sound public policy, and convening a diverse set of Houstonians when major issues arise.  

Prior to joining the Partnership in 2012, Harvey was active in the Houston business community, first as a consultant with McKinsey & Company, Inc. and then as Vice Chair of Reliant Energy.

Harvey serves on the boards of Houston Exponential, Good Reason Houston, the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Center for Houston’s Future. He is a Trustee Emeritus of the United Way of Greater Houston and The Post Oak School.

Harvey was raised in Houston, Texas, and received his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University and his MBA from Harvard Business School.

MOJI KARIMI

Moji is a carbon-negative entrepreneur, and a technology futurist. His mission is to create a sustainable future where humans have applied technology to balance the rate of climate change. A future where humans live in harmony with nature. As an operator, he has a track record of taking a range of multidisciplinary ideas to market. The fruits of this experience became Cemvita Factory, a company that Moji started with his sister Tara in 2017. In his role, Moji serves a team of passionate scientists and engineers on a mission to reimagine the heavy industries for a net-zero economy. This is done by genetic engineering of microbes that enable carbon-negative solutions across oil and gas, chemical, and mining industries.

Juliana Garaizar

Juliana obtained an MBA at the London Business School and Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, specializing in Entrepreneurship. She is President of one of Sophia Business Angels sidecar funds SBA ISF Holding, Expert Committee Member of Success Europe Fund (best European early stage fund in 2010) and a member of the University of Houston Cougar Venture Fund Advisory Committee. Juliana is a member of the Angel Capital Association Marketing and Membership Committees and of Ignite, a health-focused women investment group as well as the Early Stage Investing Education Chair for of Houston Exponential’s Steering Committee. International Founding Member of Istanbul’s Galata Business Angels Juliana also helped WEangels get started, focusing on investing in Latin American Women Entrepreneurs. 

Vivian Jokotade AdeniyI

As a young child, I dreamt of becoming two things: the first, a fashion designer, and the second, an elegant, influential woman. I was passionate about two interests, Fashion and the Environment. My dream included living out true beauty, authenticity, grace, poise, warmth, love, eloquence, and the like. I quickly identified with and admired anyone who lived out these virtues and owned their imperfections. When I moved to the United States in 1997, I ended in college for business. Following a layoff and the start of a small business, I found myself planning lavish weddings and events and designing exquisite stationery. I had no idea what was to come.

After working with paper for 15 years, a search for the next big step in my career brought me closer to the reality of my childhood dream but with a twist: I entered the world of fashion design, leveraging my experience with paper. As a working woman, I found it somewhat difficult to source a stylish planner that speaks to my core and deeply represents the influential woman I dream of becoming. Most office stores offered more masculine work-life goods. In 2019, my search inspired me to bring to market what I found to be lacking. With zero followers, a $1000 investment, and an elegant dream, NOTIQ, a fashion-forward, lifestyle brand was born in my living room