Karan Bilimoria, Baron Bilimoria

Karan Bilimoria (Cambridge, November 2008)

Karan Faridoon Bilimoria, Baron Bilimoria CBE (born 26 November 1961) is an entrepreneur and a life peer. He is best known as one of the two founders and chairman of Cobra Beer.

Early life

Bilimoria was born in Hyderabad, India of Parsi Zoroastrian descent. He did his schooling from Hebron School, Ooty in the Nilgiris, India. He received the Bachelor of Commerce degree from Osmania University; (Indian Institute of Management and Commerce, Hyderabad) in 1981. After qualifying as a chartered accountant with what is today Ernst & Young, he graduated in law from Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge in 1988.

Cobra Beer

He founded Cobra Beer in 1989, aiming to create a less fizzy lager more suitable for drinking with curry and other foods. In 1999, the company diversified into wine.

On 29 May 2009 the company went into administration, owing an estimated £70 million to creditors. Molson Coors, one of the world's largest brewers, then paid circa £14 million for a 50.1% share in a pre-pack administration deal, leaving Bilimoria and his shareholders with the other 49.9%, and signed a Joint Venture deal under the name the Cobra Beer Partnership, of which Bilimoria is Chairman.

On 7 October 2009 Bilimoria claimed that the creditors of Cobra Beer will be settled out of future profits of the Joint Venture. Celebrating its first full year sales for 2010, the Cobra Beer Partnership posted a healthy profit for the financial year ending 31 December 2010. The business recorded sales of £48 million for 2010 with a profit before tax of £4.9m. Combining Molson Coors’ strong infrastructure, comprehensive routes to market and track record of building leading brands, with Cobra’s industry know-how and heritage, the Joint Venture started to reap the benefits. Moving Cobra production to Burton in May 2010 provided an opportunity for growth already built on a strong foundation.

Cobra has celebrated a 5,000 mile journey, spanning over twenty years, from Bangalore to Burton and is now fully brewed and distributed from Molson Coors’ flagship brewery in Burton, the UK’s biggest brewery.

In 2010 Cobra Beer Partnership invested £3m in its marketing budget and plans on increasing this again in 2011 to £5m to ensure it continues to build the brand.

Lord Bilimoria will not take any money out of the business until all creditors are settled. This is unprecedented as part of a pre-pack deal.

Business philosophy

Bilimoria professes to be a proponent of socially responsible business, which he says must run right though the company to have any effect.

Honours and positions

Bilimoria received the CBE in 2004 for services to business.

Bilimoria is the Deputy President of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He is an Honorary Life Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (RSA). He held the position of Mentor in the Joint Police Mentoring Initiative. He is a former Representative Deputy Lieutenant for the London Borough of Hounslow and is the Chancellor of Thames Valley University - the UK’s youngest at the time of his appointment. He is a Champion of the Make Your Mark campaign for enterprise and National Champion of the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship. In 2003, Bilimoria was appointed as the UK Chairman of the Indo British Partnership (IBP) by the British Government, and served as founding Chairman of the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) of which he is now President. He is also a member of the Chancellor’s Asia Task Force and the UK-India Round Table. He is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organisation (YPO) and served as Chairman of the YPO London Chapter for 2004/05. Bilimoria also serves as Founding President of the UK Zoroastrian Chamber of Commerce (UKZCC) and is a Charter and Board Member of TiE UK. Bilimoria was a member of the Government’s National Employment Panel and served as Chairman of the Panel’s Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (SME) Board from 2001 to 2005.

Bilimoria is a member of the Advisory Board of Cambridge University’s Judge Business School and Visiting Professor at London Metropolitan University Business School. He is a Visiting Entrepreneur at the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning, Cambridge University – one of the first two ever to be appointed. In 2007, Bilimoria was named Honorary Fellow of his Cambridge College, Sidney Sussex.

Bilimoria directly supports a number of charities and is a patron of the Thare Machi Starfish Initiative, Rethink severe mental illness, Pratham UK, Children in Need Institute (CINI), and the British Consultancy Charitable Trust (BCCT), a member of the Advisory Board of The Roundhouse Trust, and chairman of the advisory board of the Shrimati Pushpa Wati Loomba Memorial Trust for the education of children of poor widows in India. He was also Chairman of the Memorial Gates Committee. He is an Association Member of healthcare company BUPA, and a trustee of the British Cardiac Research Trust from 2003 to 2008. Bilimoria is a Commissioner of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea.

In 2004, on its 250th anniversary year, the RSA honoured Bilimoria Albert Medal, in recognition of meeting the RSA Manifesto Challenge to Encourage Enterprise. He has also been honoured with the Award for Outstanding Achievement 2005 by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales in the Institute’s 125th anniversary year; as Business Person of the Year 2004 by the London Business Awards, awarded by the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and as London Entrepreneur of the Year 2003 (Consumer Products) by Ernst & Young, established as the most prestigious business award in more than 35 nations worldwide. Bilimoria was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Business from Brunel University in July 2005, an Honorary Doctorate in Letters by Heriot-Watt University in November 2005, was made an Honorary Doctor of the University by Staffordshire University in July 2006, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Business from the London Metropolitan University in November 2008, and made a Honorary Doctor of Science by Cranfield University in 2009. Bilimoria has been recognised as Best Business Leader by Sage Business Awards 2004 in association with The Daily Telegraph, Entrepreneur of the Year 2004 at the National Business Awards, London and South East of England and as Entrepreneur of the Year 2003 by the London Business Awards. He was named Man of the Year by the Drinks Business Awards 2006. In 2008 Bilimoria was awarded the Pravasi Bharti Samman by the President of India. Bilimoria was also awarded the 2008 Entrepreneur Alumnus of the Year at Cranfield School of Management, and he also became an alumnus of the London Business School, through the YPO London Business School Growing Your Business Presidents Programme, 2003-2008. Bilimoria attended the Business Growth Program at Cranfield School of Management in 1998.

In 2005, Bilimoria received the inaugural Indo British Partnership Award from the Non-Resident Indian (NRI) Institute presented by Tony McNulty MP, Minister of State for Immigration and Citizenship. Bilimoria was named Asian of the Year 2002, a prestigious award that recognises the achievements and contributions of British Asians and coincided with the launch of the 15th edition of the Asian Who’s Who. Bilimoria was awarded the NRI (Non-Resident Indian) Millennium Honour in 2001, the Outstanding Achievement Award 2002 by the Executive Association of Great Britain (EAGB) for his outstanding contribution to business in Britain, the 2003 Excellence Award and Pride of India Award by the NRI Institute, and the Entrepreneur of the Year 2003 by the Asian Achievers Awards. Bilimoria is a Freeman of the City of London and in 2008 he became a Liveryman in both the Drapers Company and the Brewers Company of the City of London, and was also awarded for his Leadership at the Institute of Directors Director Magazine Good Director Awards. In June 2006, Bilimoria was appointed The Lord Bilimoria, of Chelsea.

Styles and titles

• Mr. Karan Bilimoria (1961–2004)
• Mr. Karan Bilimoria, CBE (2004–2006)
• The Lord Bilimoria, DL (2006–2010)
• The Lord Bilimoria, DL CBE (2010–)