Entrepreneur Professor Vikas Shah has received the Member of the Order of the British Empire for Services to Business and the Economy.
The high-profile business commentator, a regular on the BBC and Sky News, has mentored hundreds of young entrepreneurs and businesses.
Manchester-based Shah, 37, is Honorary Professor at Alliance Manchester Business School at the University of Manchester and Professor of Entrepreneurship at the MIT Sloan Lisbon MBA and is a venture investor in numerous businesses internationally.
“I was absolutely floored when I found out the news – it took a while to sink in,” he said.
“I have always gone through life working on things that I’m passionate about, and doing what I can to make a difference.
“Receiving an honour like this makes you think and reflect on how far you’ve come, and is one of the few times in life you stop to feel pride in yourself.”
Shah’s online journal Thought Economics features conversations with many high-profile leaders including Noam Chomsky, Sir Richard Branson, Jack Welch, Will.I.Am, Buzz Aldrin and Usain Bolt.
He is also an advocate for causes, speaking publicly on issues ranging from mental health and inequality. During a ten-year fight with depression, he turned to poetry as a source of consolation, healing and reflection, published this year in his new book, ‘3650’.
He has also spent over 15 years actively involved in charities in the UK and internationally.
Fellow Manchester entrepreneur Lou Cordwell, CEO of Magnetic North, was awarded an OBE for services to the creative and digital economy.
Other UK tech figures to receive honours were:
- Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis – CBE for services to science and technology
- techUK president Jacqueline de Rojas – CBE for services to international trade in the technology industry
- Hyperoptic managing director Dana Tobak – CBE for services to the digital economy
- Balderton Capital general partner Suranga Chandratillake – OBE for services to engineering and technology
- PROfounders Capital founder Jonathan Goodwin – OBE for services to the economy
- Worldpay vice chairman Ron Kalifa – OBE for services to the financial services and technology
- Technology entrepreneur Vin Murria – OBE for services to the UK digital economy and advancing women in the software sector
- CAST director Annika Small – OBE for services to social innovation and digital technology
- The Independent Game Developers Association CEO Dr Richard Wilson – OBE for services to the video game industry
- Cisco director Adetunji Akintokun – MBE for services to young people from minority ethnic backgrounds in science and technology
- Evolve CEO Leanne Bonner-Cooke – MBE for services to women in business
- Blippar founder Jess Butcher – MBE for services to digital technology and entrepreneurship
- Optimity CEO Anthony Impey – MBE for services to apprenticeships, small businesses and broadband connectivity
- Microsoft executive security advisor Sian John – MBE for services to cyber security
- BeCrypt CEO Bernard Parsons – MBE for services to digital technology