Aekta Patel (neé Mahajan) is the Global Head of the Venture Capital Team at the Department for International Trade. In this role she helps bring more overseas VC investment and private wealth investment into UK companies and UK funds. She also leads a team of specialists to help attract more funds to set up in the UK. Prior to DIT, she worked in the Cabinet Office working closely with Ministers and Number 10; leading on initiatives such as growing social investment in the UK as well as making government departments more efficient. Before joining the Civil Service, she spent a few years working as a Management Consultant at Accenture, followed by a 2 year stint in Deutsche Bank’s global strategy team. In 2012, Aekta was selected as one of Management Today’s “35 Women Under 35” list.