London's Mayor Sadiq Khan had tasked Agrawal with championing London's interests following the exit of Britain after the EU referendum, and protecting jobs and growth while the negotiation process for exit takes place.
Agrawal was Khan's business adviser during his mayoral campaign.
Born and brought up in Indore, India, Agrawal arrived in London in 2001 and became a fin-tech entrepreneur and innovator
According to a City A.M article, after studying and working in India, Agrawal was headhunted to work with a foreign exchange brokerage in the UK. In 2005, after three and a half years, he set up RationalFX with his business partner Paresh Davdra. Agrawal was then 28 and Davdra was 25. Agrawal thought “if I don’t try it now, then when will I? I increased the limits on my credit card, took a personal loan out and that’s how we started the business.” He says in the beginning “we were the cleaners, we were the accountants, we were the front office, we were the back office and we were flexible.
CV | RAJESH AGRAWAL, RATIONALFX
Job title: Founder and chief executive
Turnover: £700m (expected this year)
Number of staff: 70
Age: 34
Born: Indore, India
Lives: Harrow
Studied: Bachelor’s degree in finance and marketing and an MBA in IT and marketing
Favourite business book: What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School
