Ana Bakshi is the inaugural Executive Director of the Oxford Foundry (OXFO) entrepreneurship centre at the University of Oxford, which opened in October 2017. The Oxford Foundry delivers entrepreneurial and technology skills and training opportunities for students and alumni across the University of Oxford, as well as external communities. Ana has launched institutional centres and accelerator programmes which have supported tens of thousands of young people with the critical skills needed for our future workforce, and accelerated 100+ ventures working in areas such as climate change, healthtech and cybersecurity. In under 3 years, ventures from the OXFO L.E.V8 accelerator have created 146 jobs and raised £40 million across 32 companies, and improved the livelihoods of people around the globe.

In her previous role at King’s College London, Ana co-founded King’s Entrepreneurship Institute, driving the strategy and creating the framework to bring it to life as an independent centre including the King’s accelerator programme where ventures supported have raised over £17m and created 400 jobs. Ana has a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Queen Mary College, University of London, and a Master’s degree in International Development from The University of Manchester. She is a member of Fast Company’s globally-elected Impact Council, and a trustee of Ascend Charity, which provides key skills to hard-to reach and marginalised groups.