Vikas Shah is Managing Director of Swiscot Group, a Manchester based textiles and commodities trading firm, with operations worldwide. He is also Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurship with MIT Sloan and an honorary professor at the Alliance Manchester Business School. Vikas has built businesses in diverse sectors around the world for almost twenty years, and is also a consultant and advisor to numerous entrepreneurs and organizations globally. He is President of the North West region chapter of TiE (the world’s largest entrepreneurs network), and a respected speaker and commentator on entrepreneurship, business and social issues. Vikas is an advisor to many civic and community groups, advises the government as part of the IDAB and is a trustee of Mustard Tree and In Place of War, Executive Patron of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre, and a member of the University of Manchester General Assembly.