Vikas Shah MBE is a serial entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurship at MIT Sloan (The Lisbon MBA), Honorary Professor of Business at The Alliance Business School, University of Manchester and an Honorary Industry Fellow at the University of Salford Business School. Vikas started his first technology business aged just fourteen, and is currently CEO of Swiscot Group (a diversified international trading business). He is a venture investor in fast-growing technology businesses internationally and is a non-executive director and advisor to numerous organizations. Vikas was awarded an MBE for Services to Business and the Economy in Her Majesty the Queen’s 2017 New Year’s Honours List.
Thought Economics was founded by Vikas Shah MBE in 2007, and has been recognized globally for the quality of its editorial content, having been named as an official honoree at the 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 Webby Awards (run by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences) for Best Writing (Editorial) alongside The New York Times, the BBC, the Paris Review, Vanity Fair, the Financial Times and National Geographic.
The Thought Economics website includes interviews on a diverse range of topics including: business and economics, culture, society and the arts, politics and policy, science and technology, with interviewees including:
Entrepreneurs: Sir Richard Branson (Founder, Virgin Group), Mark Cuban (Serial Entrepreneur & Shark Tank), Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook), Stephen Schwarzman (Co-Founder, Blackstone), Tony Hsieh (Founder, Zappos) Steve Case (Founder, AOL), Peter Diamindis (X-Prize), Brian Grazer (Film Producer), Kevin O’Leary (Shark Tank), Jerry Yang (Founder, Yahoo!), Jaan Tallinn (Co-Founder, Skype), Ed Catmull (Co-Founder, Pixar), Steve Ballmer (Microsoft, LA Clippers), Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia), Hamdi Ulukaya (Founder, Chobani)
Artists, Creatives, Sports & Entertainers: Usain Bolt, Elif Shafak, Sam Neill, Will.I.Am, Penn Jillette, David Blaine, Tracey Emin, Rita Ora, Ai WeiWei, Perez Hilton, Ken Loach, Paul Greengrass, Olafur Eliasson, Nico Rosberg, Black Thought, George Takei, Nile Rodgers, Bear Grylls, Marina Abramovic, Philippe Starck, Sir Anish Kapoor, Frank Warren, Rankin, David Bailey, Olivia Newton-John, Louis Saha, Jordan Belfort, Philip Neville, Moby, Jameela Jamil, Hans Zimmer, Claudia Schiffer, AJ Mendez, David Baddiel, Chetan Bhagat, Vikas Khanna, Alain DuCasse, Heston Blumenthal, Manny Pacquiao,
Thinkers: Noam Chomsky, Steven Pinker, Melinda Gates, Dr. Buzz Aldrin, Deepak Chopra, Garry Kasparov, Chris Anderson, Dr. Jane Goodall, Jocko Willink, Cherie Blair, Maya Angelou, Prof. Stew Friedman, Gen. Stan McChrystal, Nick Kristof, Robert Peston, Cherie Blair, Jordan B. Peterson, Gad Saad, Bill Drayton, Cmdr. Chris Hadfield, Wim Hof, Frank Abagnale, David Baddiel, Bill Drayton.
Nobel Prize Winners: Professor Muhammad Yunus, Kailash Satyarthi, Prof. Edmund Phelps, Prof. Jody Williams, Dr. Shirin Ebadi, President Maarti Ahtisaari of Finland, Prof. Michael Spence, Professor Alvin E. Roth, Professor May-Britt Moser, Professor Daniel Kahneman, Professor Brian Schmidt. Dr. Mario Capecchi.
World Leaders: F. W. de Klerk (Former President, South Africa - Nobel Peace Prize Winner), Antonio Costa (Prime Minister of Portugal), Juri Ratas (Prime Minister of Estonia), Vicente Fox Quesada (Former President, Mexico), Guy Verhofstadt (Former Prime Minister, Belgium), HRH Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands, Lech Walesa (Former President, Poland - Nobel Peace Prize Winner), Bertie Ahern (Former Prime Minister of Ireland), Toomas Hendrik Ilves (Former President, Estonia), First Lady of NYC, Charlene McCray, Gen. Michael Hayden (Former Director of CIA & NSA).
