A Borehamwood businessman has been nominated for an award after creating a multi-million pound commercial foreign exchange company.

Rajesh Agrawal, 31, has been nominated in the Business and Commerce Excellence category in the Lloyds TSB Southern Jewel Awards to be held in October.

Mr Agrawal is founder and chief executive of RationalFX, which is a company that allows individuals and businesses to buy or sell currencies online.

He was born in Indore, India, and moved to London in 2001 after being headhunted by a foreign exchange broking firm.

Mr Agrawal said: “I was born in a small town in India and for me it is great to achieve this nomination. My family back home were happy when they heard about this but also very overwhelmed. The funny thing was that recently the local paper in Indore called to speak to me so the news definitely must have spread there.”

In 2005, Mr Agrawal teamed up with colleague Paresh Davdra to create RationalFX and now runs a team of 18 people in his central London offices.

The firm is one of the UK’s fastest growing companies and recorded a turnover of £180 million last year.

Mr Agrawal added: “I was 22 when I moved out from home and was living on only 5,000 rupees (approximately £63) a month in a place called Chandigarh (in Northern India) working for a small web-designing company.

“It is very encouraging therefore, especially to come from where I did, to have the company grow so fast here. It’s just good to be nominated and to get that special pat on the back.”

Kamel Hothi, Head of Asian Markets at Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets, said: “The calibre of nominations we have received is testament to the ongoing success story of the Asian community.

“It has been a tough task to whittle these down to a shortlist but Rajesh Agrawal’s commitment to the business and commerce sector stood out.

“In his role, he provides inspiration and support for the next generation and through our sponsorship of the Jewel Awards, we want to recognise the outstanding contribution made by individuals like him.”