About
Building businesses. Serving on boards. Exploring ideas.
Twenty-five years as a founder-CEO, government board service since 2013, and more than six hundred conversations with the people shaping our century.
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.
He holds Honorary Professorships at the University of Salford Business School and the Alliance Business School, University of Manchester, an Honorary Professorial Fellowship at Lancaster University Management School, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration by the University of Salford. For nearly eight years he was Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship on The Lisbon MBA, delivered in partnership with MIT Sloan.
Since 2007 he has interviewed more than 600 of the world's most influential people for Thought Economics, a journal of intellectual capital read in over 120 countries. His book of the same name was published by Michael O'Mara Books in 2021. He is an active angel investor with multiple eight-figure portfolio exits, and his writing has been recognised alongside the New York Times, Financial Times and National Geographic as a five-time Webby Award honoree for editorial writing. His archive is held by the University of Salford Library.
Honours & appointments
- MBE
- Services to Business and the Economy, 2018
- Deputy Lieutenant
- Greater Manchester Lieutenancy, 2021
- Freedom of the City of London
- 2013
- Honorary Doctorate (DBA)
- University of Salford, 2022
- Honorary Professor
- Alliance Manchester Business School & University of Salford
- Honorary Professorial Fellow
- Lancaster University Management School
- Webby Award Honoree
- Best Writing (Editorial), five consecutive years, 2012–2016
- The Vikas Shah Archive
- Held by the University of Salford Library
In the press
Coverage & announcements.
Appointments, honours and interviews, as reported.
- Harvard Business Review2021Why Therapy Can Make You Better at Your JobOn mental health, therapy and their influence on his leadership, for HBR’s The Anxious Achiever.
- BBC Radio Manchester2022In conversation with Asma YounusOn donating his archive of interviews with world leaders, celebrities and sportspeople to the University of Salford.
- Innovate UK Business ConnectVikas Shah to chair new Innovate UK ICURe Advisory BoardAppointed to lead the independent advisory board supporting ICURe’s research commercialisation programmes.
- BusinessCloud2025Dr. Vikas Shah named as chairman of RdentifyChairing the AI-powered customer engagement platform as it expands.
- European Gaming2025Rdentify appoints Dr. Vikas Shah as chairmanOn Rdentify’s use of AI for responsible, personalised customer support in online gaming.
- gunnercookeInterview with Vikas Shah MBE DL – the importance of conversationMental health recovery, leadership, work-life boundaries and the responsibilities of business leaders to their communities.
- NuroleHow Practical Frameworks Create High-Impact BoardsPractical ways to make boards more effective: recruiting for relevant skills, defining board culture and purpose, and assessing the value directors contribute.
- Lancashire LifeHigh flyer Dr Vikas Shah on his life-long love of flyingA personal profile of a lifelong enthusiasm for aviation, from childhood plane-spotting to aircraft design and flight simulation.
- Alliance Manchester Business SchoolInspirational entrepreneur Vikas Shah accepts Honorary Professorship from Alliance Manchester Business SchoolSupporting teaching, entrepreneurship programmes and student mentoring at the school.
- University of Salford2022Entrepreneur Vikas Shah donates £1m archive to University of SalfordThe donation of his interview archive, providing material for teaching and research across business, politics, culture and sport.
- Lancaster University Management SchoolRenowned entrepreneur shares candid insights at Lancaster MBA eventWith Lancaster MBA students and alumni on the realities of entrepreneurship: emotional intelligence, purpose, wellbeing and responsibility to employees.
- University of Manchester Innovation FactoryEntrepreneurial Mentor: Vikas Shah MBE joins The Innovation FactoryHelping emerging entrepreneurs develop business ideas through growth and potential exits.
- Business Live2020Serial entrepreneur Vikas Shah delivers his top tips to survive the pandemicAdapting to change, communicating transparently, protecting staff and maintaining wellbeing through the pandemic.
- BusinessCloud2018Prof. Vikas Shah ‘floored’ by New Year’s HonourThe MBE for services to business and the economy, recognising his entrepreneurial career, mentoring and community work.
Giving back
Causes worth the time.
For more than twenty years, Vikas has given his time, judgement and money to causes he believes in, from conservation and culture to poverty, health, peace and enterprise.
Much of it is close to home. In Greater Manchester he has stood alongside Mustard Tree in its work with people facing poverty and homelessness, backed Street Soccer Academy in using sport to change lives, and helped raise funds for the Manchester Cancer Research Centre through Cancer Research UK's More Tomorrows campaign. He chairs the partnership that brings together Manchester Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and the Whitworth, and serves as a trustee of Chester Zoo, one of the world's leading conservation organisations.
Further afield, he co-founded and for many years chaired In Place of War, which works with artists and communities in conflict zones across more than forty countries. He has advised the British Council on its global digital transformation, worked with HM Armed Forces to bring the Armed Forces Covenant into businesses across the North West, and spent more than a decade building entrepreneurship programmes through TiE, the world's largest network of entrepreneurs.
In 2022 he donated his archive of interviews, transcripts and notes to the University of Salford so that students and researchers could work with it freely.
Organisations supported
Chester Zoo · Manchester Museum, Manchester Art Gallery & the Whitworth · Mustard Tree · Cancer Research UK · In Place of War · Street Soccer Academy · The British Council · HM Armed Forces · TiE · University of Salford · Manchester Cancer Research Centreand more.