Izumo is a founder and President of euglena Co., Ltd., the world’s first biotechnology company to succeed in the outdoor mass culture of microalgae for food use.

-Izumo founded the Company in 2005 to address the problem of world-wide hunger and wide and malnutrition, motivated by his experience in 1998 when he visited Bangladesh and saw the problems of famine and poverty. The Company has developed the ability to mass-cultivate Euglena, single-cell nutrient-rich microalgae that grow by photosynthesis using CO2. The Company manufactures Euglena based food products such as functional foodfood, supplements and drinks, markets them through EC site, GMS, convenience stores and retail stores across the country. It also has developed a hydrolyzed extract of Euglena that can be used in cosmetics and hair care products. The core competency of the Company is its continuing research and development of Euglena for various applications, which are far reaching. For example, the Company is pursuing solutions to global warming utilizing the very high CO2 absorption properties of Euglena. The Company is also working to develop bio jet fuelfuels from Euglena in cooperation with Hitachi, All Nippon Airways and JX Oil & Energy. The Company is listed on the First section of Tokyo Stock Exchange, and the the market capitalization is US$ 1,061 million as of 15 th January 2015. -In 2002, Izumo graduated from the University of Tokyo with a bachelor’s degree in specializing Agricultural Structure and Business Administration, and entered the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. He wrote a book “I’ve decided to save the Earth with Euglena”, (“Bokuwa midorimushide sekaio sukuukotoni kimemashita” in Japanese) 2013. -Awards: 2014 ・Symbols of Tomorrow Awards in Health Care Division (All Japan Hospital Association, Japan Hospital Association and the Sanofi Group) 2013 ・Japan -US Innovation Award 2013 – Emerging Leader (the Japan Society of Northern California and Stanford University) 2012 ・Young Global Leader 2012 (The World Economic Forum the Davos meeting) ・Change makers of the Year 2013 (Nikkei Business Online) ・Minister of Economic, Trade and Industry Prize Japan Venture Awards (the Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation, Japan)