2009 Think-tank Members


Zoltan J. Acs is University Professor at the School of Public Policy and Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Public Policy. He is also a Research Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Economics in Jena, Germany, and Scholar-in-Residence at the Kauffman Foundation. He is coeditor and founder of Small Business Economics, the leading entrepreneurship and small business publication in the world.


Dr Nikhil Agarwal is an international expert on ICT & Development, Internet Governance and Technology Entrepreneurship and currently serves as Director of Zensar Center for Business Innovation (ZCBI) based out of Pune, India. ZCBI is research & innovation center for Zensar Technologies Ltd, a global ITES firm servicing fortune 500 customers. He serves on various international committees and is a High-Level-Adviser to United Nation's Global Alliance on ICT & Development (UNGAID). He has published more than 29 papers in international journals such as IEEE. Since 2004, he is Editor-in-Chief of prestigious Journal of Internet Banking & Commerce (JIBC).
Dr Agarwal has an M.Phil Technology Policy from the Cambridge-MIT Institute, University of Cambridge, UK, and a Doctorate in Management from Institute of Management Technology (IMT), India. He is also a recipient of Sir Dorabji Tata Trust Award, Cambridge Trust Award and has received grants from Malta-based Diplo Foundation.


His entrepreneurial instinct forced him to give up his job in a British foreign exchange broking firm and in 2005, he founded RationalFX. His company is a commercial foreign exchange business that provides foreign exchange services to private individuals and businesses. RationalFX was started with a capital of £4000, with majority of business expenses going on Mr. Agrawal’s personal credit cards. After 3 years, RationalFX is now one of the UK’s fastest growing companies and recorded a turnover of £180 million on its 3rd year.
In 2008, Mr. Agrawal was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of arts, manufacturers and commerce (FRSA). He was a finalist for 2008 Lloyds TSB KPMG Awards and 2008 Asian Achievers Awardfor “Young Entrepreneur of the Year”. He regularly participates in the House of Commons and House of Lords events to raise the issue of Asian Community within the UK.


Hikari Akizawa is a faculty member of Chuo University, a private university in Tokyo, established in 1885, teaching entrepreneurship and knowledge management for nine years. Her research interests are in entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial family business. Dr. Akizawa also has broad professional experiences in the field of entrepreneurship, organizational learning, and knowledge management.


Appointed as the director of the “Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for Young Business Leaders” in 2002, to finally become the CEO of the Establishment in 2003, he has been responsible for the organizational mandate of developing and managing MBRE which holds a pivotal initiative in promoting entrepreneurship and setting an enabling environment to the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises in Dubai. He plays a key role in the advocacy and policy initiatives that contribute to the GDP of Dubai within the targets set by Dubai Economic Development Department.


In addition to his role as Dean of Faculty, Tugrul Atamer is also professor of strategic management at EM LYON. He holds a Doctorate degree in management science from the University of Grenoble. He was Visiting Professor at the University of South Carolina, where he thought International Management and Strategic Change for MIBS programme.
His areas of expertise include : strategy, international strategy, organisational change, transnational integration processes within multinational corporations and international transfer of technology and knowledge.
He has designed and delivered numerous tailor made programs for top management, senior and high potential managers in European companies including Société Générale, Norbert d'Entressangle, IBM France, Totalfina, Alcatel, Auchan…). In the USA, he has co-designed and delivered executive and management development programs for General Motors, Ingersoll Rand and Verizon.
He has carried out consultancy assignments with several companies such as Usinor-Mecagis, Modo-Holmen, Esys-Monteray, Carrefour, Sodexho, Totalfina and Albert.


Ms. Marcela Benitez founded RESPONDE Organization to promote the recovery of villages that are at risk
of disappearing or undergoing serious crises, encouraging their people to become the protagonists of change.
Responde's proposal is focused on creative and innovative social and economic devlopment projects.


Dr John Blackmore, Chief Executive, Action Acton--a charity, Development Trust and Social Enterprise based in West London with the Mission to 'promote community and economic regeneration'. Delivers Employment, Education, Training and Business support projects. Previously posts included senior manager for Local Authorities in London, Co-ordinator of Home Office Safer Cities Project, Research Officer, Director of adolescent Action Research project, Research Officer for Cambridge University Institute of Criminology. Past Executive Committee Member of EFUS (European Forum for Urban Security) and Churchill Fellow.


Mr. Bojar was one of the very few entrepreneurs of Central-Eastern Europe to succeed in global business already in the years of state-socialism. With a degree in physics and several years spent heading the group of mathematicians at the Geophysics Institute Eötvös Lórand, he founded his own firm in 1982. Graphisoft, a software development company focusing on 3D architectural design, grew rapidly and in a decade became one of the top three software vendors of the sector internationally. In 1998 The Wall Street Journal named him as one of the ten most successful entrepreneurs in Central Europe and in 2006 he was awarded by Ernst and Young's Entrepreneur of the Year in Hungary