Prof. Vikas Shah MBE DL · Entrepreneur, investor, non‑executive director
Experience for the decisions that matter.
Keynotes, founder advisory and independent board leadership, from twenty-five years building and exiting businesses, boardrooms across business and government, and more than six hundred conversations with the people shaping our century.
MIT Sloan, The Economist, Financial Times, NASDAQ, Meta, TCS, TEDx, BBC, Sky News, Cambridge Judge
25yrs
as founder-CEO, exited to private buyers, private equity and listed groups
2013
government board service since, from IDAB to the BEIS board and DESNZ
600+
in-depth interviews with the world's leading thinkers
20
Nobel laureates interviewed for Thought Economics
25+
M&A transactions led personally
120+
countries reading Thought Economics
Ways of working together
Speaking, advisory and board appointments.
Keynote speaking
Keynotes, fireside conversations and conference chairing on entrepreneurship, leadership, governance and the ideas shaping the next economy. Delivered on stages from MIT Sloan and The Economist to NASDAQ, Meta and TEDx.
Book a keynote
Awarded MBE
Services to Business and the Economy, 2018
About
A portfolio career spanning entrepreneurship, investment and public service.
Prof. Vikas Shah MBE DL is a multi-exited entrepreneur, investor, non-executive director and thought leader, with significant experience in founding, leading and exiting businesses to trade, private-equity and listed groups.
His government board service began in 2013 with the Industrial Development Advisory Board, followed by the BEIS departmental board. He is now a Non-Executive Board Member of the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ), where he chairs the Audit, Risk & Assurance Committee, and a Non-Executive Director of the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Institute of Directors, Enspec Power and Certo Aerospace. He chairs the Innovate UK ICURe Advisory Board and the board of Rdentify, an AI scale-up, is Co-Founder of the venture lab Endgame, and sits as Entrepreneur in Residence at The University of Manchester's Innovation Factory.
Vikas was awarded an MBE for Services to Business and the Economy in the Queen's 2018 New Year's Honours List. In 2021 he became a Deputy Lieutenant of Greater Manchester, and he holds the Freedom of the City of London.
MBE
Services to Business and the Economy, 2018
Deputy Lieutenant
Greater Manchester Lieutenancy, 2021
Freedom of the City of London
2013
Speaking
Keynotes and conversations that move a room.
Vikas speaks on entrepreneurship, leadership and innovation. He has spoken at conferences and events around the world for organisations including MIT Sloan, The Economist, the Financial Times, NASDAQ, Meta and TCS, and is regularly called upon by the BBC, Sky News and the FT for comment on business and the economy.
- 01Building, scaling and exiting
- 02Leadership under pressure
- 03Governance, risk and the boardroom
- 04AI, deep tech and the future of work
- 05The economics of ideas
TEDx Manchester · Coutts, with Nile Rodgers · The Economist
Thought Economics
Conversations with the world’s most influential minds.
Since 2007, Vikas has interviewed more than 600 of the world's most influential people for Thought Economics: 20 Nobel laureates, heads of state, and leading figures in business, science and the arts. The journal is read in more than 120 countries, and its archive is held by the University of Salford Library.
Selected interviews
- Sir Richard BransonFounder of VirginRead the interview
- Melinda French GatesPhilanthropist and founder of Pivotal VenturesRead the interview
- Maya AngelouPoet, author and civil rights activistRead the interview
- Usain BoltOlympic sprint championRead the interview
- Daniel KahnemanPsychologist and Nobel laureate in economicsRead the interview
- Jane GoodallPrimatologist and founder of the Jane Goodall InstituteRead the interview
Interviewees, not endorsements. See the wider selection.
Latest conversations
New on Thought Economics.
7 September 2026
A Conversation with Jesper Kouthoofd, Founder of Teenage Engineering, on Design, Play and Why Every Product Is an Illusion
In this interview, I spoke to Jesper Kouthoofd, founder of Teenage Engineering, about why he still refuses the title of designer, why he thinks every product is an illusion and the honest move is to…
Read the interview
4 September 2026
We Are Not Alone: A Conversation with Jonathan Caplan KC on the Evidence for UAPs, Non-Human Intelligence and Why It Was Never Disclosed
In this interview, I spoke to Jonathan Caplan KC, one of Britain’s most senior barristers, who has spent 50 years applying the evidentiary standards of the criminal Bar to unidentified anomalous…
Read the interview
2 September 2026
Can Optimism Survive Bad News? Michelle Gielan on Resilient Optimism, Burnout and Becoming a Positive Deviant
In this interview, I spoke to Michelle Gielan, positive psychology researcher, former CBS Morning News anchor and author of Resilient Optimism, about why optimism is a set of behaviours rather than a…
Read the interview
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Books
Published work.
“Stimulating, intelligent and enjoyable discussions of the most important issues of our day.”
“From entrepreneurs to athletes, and world leaders to entertainers, this is a fascinating collection of interviews with some of the world's most influential individuals.”
Photography
Beyond the boardroom.
A lifelong photographer. The latest frames, straight from Instagram.
