THE Houston Chapter of WZCC is one of the most proactive Chapters of the WZCC GLOBAL ORGANIZATION and rightly so because it was in Houston where 10 years ago, at the 7 th World Zarathushti Congress that this Chamber was jump started to enhance the economic & entrepreneurial spirit of Zarathushtis worldwide. Houston was the center of Global attention when on the 28 th of December 2010 when Zarathushtis descended for a four day gathering to the North American Zoroastrian Congress that was hosted by ZAH & FEZANA at the Intercontinental Hotel in Houston’s electric Galleria area! The WZCC-Houston Chapter declared 28 th December 2010 as WZCC Day and had organized activities for the whole day starting with a trip to the OCEAN STAR OIL RIG MUESEUM that is a one of a kind facility located right at the port of Galveston. The Gulf of Mexico off the Texas coastline hosts hundreds of such oil rigs that are operated day and night! The WZCC member group left in a chartered bus with 55 excited participants. After their return and before the gala one saw Meetings and networking that continued throughout the day and was an ideal opportunity for an exchange of ideas and experience. WZCC-Houston Chapter continues to encourage and mentor the young and new entrepreneurs in our community and this was evident from the fact that about one third of the gala audience were below 35 years of age! The 10TH ANNUAL WZCC GALA began with a meet and greet session which allowed for an exchange of cards and to get introduced to those
Transcript
THE Houston Chapter of WZCC is one of the most proactive Chapters of the WZCC GLOBAL ORGANIZATION and rightly so because it was in Houston where 10 years ago, at the 7th World Zarathushti Congress that this Chamber was jump started to enhance the economic & entrepreneurial spirit of Zarathushtis worldwide.
Houston was the center of Global attention when on the 28 th of December 2010 when Zarathushtis descended for a four day gathering to the North American Zoroastrian Congress that was hosted by ZAH & FEZANA at the Intercontinental Hotel in Houston’s electric Galleria area!
The WZCC-Houston Chapter declared 28th December 2010 as WZCC Day and had organized activities for the whole day starting with a trip to the OCEAN STAR OIL RIG MUESEUM that is a one of a kind facility located right at the port of Galveston. The Gulf of Mexico off the Texas coastline hosts hundreds of such oil rigs that are operated day and night! The WZCC member group left in a chartered bus with 55
excited participants. After their return and before the gala one saw Meetings and networking that continued throughout the day and was an ideal opportunity for an exchange of ideas and experience. WZCC-Houston Chapter continues to encourage and mentor the young and new entrepreneurs in our community and this was evident from the fact that about one third of the gala audience were below 35 years of age!
The 10TH ANNUAL WZCC GALA began with a meet and greet session which allowed for an exchange of cards and to get introduced to those already in business and others who desired to get into one. This was indeed a star
studded event insofar as the Keynote speaker was none other than the celebrity Chef Jehangir Mehta; the celebrated Iron Chef finalist from the exciting Food Channel’s main show. America stood riveted for the finals since the winner would be the next Iron Chef. Unfortunately our talented chef came in second by just one point but the publicity generated by his charisma & talent made him an instant household name and his New York restaurant “Graffiti” was packed to capacity for months and this led to the opening of his new enterprise so rightly named “Mehtaphor”.
The Gala was held in the Founders Banquet Hall of the prestigious Intercontinental Hotel and the Chief Guest was the Consul General of India The Honorable Sanjiv Arora. Behroze Daruwalla, Houston’s Chair & Secretary to the WZCC BOARD began the session with a warm Texan welcome to the 10th annual gala dinner of WZCC Houston! Whilst according a special warm welcome to Honorable Consul General of India, Sanjiv Arora , his wife Mrs. Arora and all guests !
Behroze added, “We are also honored to have so many WZCC stalwarts with us today, including almost all of our founding members. I extend a special and warm welcome to you all and thank you for your support, guidance and encouragement that has always meant a lot to our Houston Chapter”.
“It is often said that a community can make a significant impact on society if it is economically sound and prosperous. Similarly WZCC cannot be so successful unless it’s Worldwide Chapters make a distinct contribution to elevate this organization and its members to the next level !”
“Whilst I am not qualified to speak much on the first part of the statement, I can certainly vouch for all the great contributions of the Houston chapter that commenced at the end of 2000 and within this short period has achieved the WZCC goals of entrepreneurship and professionalism”.
Behroze ended by saying that “I have always thought that Zarathushtis have four strong elements they live by….good thoughts, good words, good deeds and …………….good food !! Well that is why we were very fortunate to have our very own luminary, Chef Jehangir Mehta whose talk to us was about his experience and he so aptly named it …………………… PASSION & RISK – TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN”.
(L to R) Sarosh Collector, Zarir Sethna, Darius Wania, Ken Bhappu, Behroze Daruwalla, Jehangir Mehta, Hon. Sanjiv Arora, Bomi Patel, Dr. Raj Bhalla, Rustom Engineer & Homi Davier
Global WZCC Vice President, Rustom Engineer who continuing with protocol said………. “Honorable Consul General of India Sanjiv Arora, Mrs. Chaya Arora, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen…………………when you are in New York and you want to try some tasty French/American food with a fusion of Indian & Parsi masalas… where would you go? Where do you find spiced lamb shank, garlic-cumin crab pizza, and.. shaved foie- gras with raspberry compote all under one roof…?”
Rustom further added that, “Chef Jehangir Mehta opened his first restaurant “Graffiti” in 2007 and ….his second restaurant “Mehtaphor” just this November … both are reviewed and received very well by USA’s premier food editors and reporters. Aapro Jehangir is famous, he is celebrated by likes of Martha Stewart and was runner up in the second season of The Next Iron Chef TV program”.
“Just a while back in July, Jehangir was in Houston on one of his guest tours for a major food chain and we had invited him to meet our ZAH members. Even though it was at a very short notice, Jehangir did come and speak to our members in his unassuming…easy- flow style. Everybody just loved this humble gentleman. Then, once again, after WZCC gala he spoke again the next day at one of the NAZC-2010 sessions. We are very thankful that even though it was the busy season in New York, Jehangir made time to be with us and be our Keynote speaker”.
KERSHAW KHUMBATTA INTRODUCING HONORABLE CONSUL GENERAL SANJIV ARORA
THE CONSUL GENERAL OF INDIA
CONSUL GENERAL GIVES A WZCC TOKEN TO CHEF MEHTA
FIRST IRANI ZARATHUSHTHI BOARD MEMBER OF WZCC GIVES A TOKEN TO THE CONSUL GENERAL
CHEF MEHTA, BEHROZE DARUWALLA ,
DR. DARIUS WANIA & HOMI DAVIER
THE ATTENDEES AT THE GALA DRESSED IN THEIR FESTIVE BEST!!!
THE WZCC HOUSTON CHAPTER
MEET AT THE NAZC-2010, ON JAN 28TH, 2010The Houston chapter is blessed with a dynamic group of individuals who are committed to the economic progress of all members of our community and today’s program would not have been possible without their efforts and teamwork. One of the significant outcomes of these Houston’s WZCC sponsored programs has been to strengthen the community bond with networking at a professional business level by interacting with proven entrepreneurs, within our own community and those in mainstream USA.
ROHINTON RIVETNA & FIRDOSH MEHTA
RUSTOM ENGINEER, HOSHI MEHTA & KOBAD ZAROLIA
HOW TO REJUVENATE WZCC?
A brainstorming session on “How to Rejuvenate WZCC?” was held on Dec. 28, 2010 at the InterContinental Hotel in Houston as a part of pre-congress activity. The discussion was mainly centered around chapters in North America.
About 25 WZCC members participated in a very intense session. Many ideas were presented. Rohinton Rivetna emphasized that WZCC is not just for business people but also for professionals. He also suggested that under the
current economic conditions we should work with placement services even if it is on a paid basis.
Firdosh Mehta suggested that we prepare a list of speakers who would be willing to travel to different chapters and speak to them whenever possible. He also advised to stop saying it can’t be done and instead just do it!
Jim Engineer elaborated on the importance of involving youth at higher levels in each chapter. Rustom Engineer agreed with Jim and recommended that the senior members should provide ample opportunities for young members to be in the limelight. Behroze Daruwalla suggested that we must reach out to other Business organizations and have joint activities.
Natali Wania explained the working of the New York chapter and emphasized on the importance of information exchange with members and with outside world. Eric Engineer elaborated on the importance of connecting with each other using the readily available technology.
Though the time was short, the meeting was very thought provoking and hopefully the attendees will incorporate some of these ideas into the working of their chapters. A detailed discussion will follow at the next Board Meeting.
It was a short meeting due to time constraints however the end result was unanimous that WZCC can thrive as a collective force ONLY if the world’s Chapters unite & forge business relationships across the continents & oceans!
“YOUTH CAREER CONNECT” at NAZC 2010
– Conducted by Eric Engineer (December 29, 2010)
Sponsored by the World Zoroastrian Chamber of Commerce, this 90-minute session’s goal was to connect and unite Zoroastrian youth who share similar career goals and passions.
Moderated by WZCC Youth Director Eric Engineer, the session was attended by nearly 150 people—mostly youth under 40. Eric began the session by providing an overview of the session’s goals and format. He
also spent five minutes describing the WZCC—encouraging attendees to join their local chapter.
During the interactive portion, attendees were grouped based on their career experience and aspirations. Each of the twelve industry groups was seeded with community members, both youth and senior, who have deep experience in their respective fields. The groups engaged in a round of introductions and ice-breakers—followed by a structured discussion—where members could ask questions, relate experiences, provide advice, share ideas, and bond over shared passions.
During the second half of the interactive session, each group was tasked with brainstorming ways that, as co-professionals, they could collectively give back to their community. At the end of the brainstorming session, each group shared their idea and action plan with the entire room. Common themes developed by the groups included: mentor and internship programs, professional online directories and networks, pro-bono services for the community, etc.
To preserve these connections after the Congress, each person provided their email address, so that they could be added to an email list, social network, and mentor program--designed specifically for their industry group. The email list of 150 youth will also be used to recruit more young members and leaders to the WZCC , as well as to launch a WZCC mentorship program across North America.
THE GROUP AT THE OIL RIG
WZCC YOUTH BOARD MEMBER ERIC ENGINEER FLANKED BY BEHROZE, ZARIR & RUSTOM
THE ZAH YOUTH WITH CHEF MEHTA ………………….. YES, MAYBE OUR FUTURE WZCC OFFICERS??????
