Lord Bilimoria

Having qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young, London, and graduated in Law from Cambridge University, Karan Bilimoria developed a less gassy, premium lager brewed to perfectly appeal to both ale drinkers and lager drinkers alike and to complement food. Nineteen years later, Cobra Beer is one of the fastest growing beer brands in the UK and was ranked in the 1999 Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100, a list of the UK’s fastest growing unquoted companies.

The brand has a current retail value turnover of £126 million, is sold in nearly 6,000 Indian restaurants, and is available to more than 6,000 bars, pubs and clubs and in leading multiples, supermarkets and off-licenses throughout the UK. It is sold in over 45 countries worldwide. Cobra Beer was awarded 19 Gold Medals at the 2008 Monde Selection, Vienna, World Selection of Quality Awards – including the International High Quality Trophy. In 1999 Karan launched the General Bilimoria Wine brand.

Karan 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), a member of the RSA Advisory Council and a member of the RSA Development Board. He held the position of Mentor in the Joint Police Mentoring Initiative. He is the Representative Deputy Lieutenant for the London Borough of Hounslow and 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, Karan was appointed as the UK Chairman of the Indo British Partnership (IBP) by the British Government, and serves as founding Chairman of the UK India Business Council (UKIBC). 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. Karan also serves as Founding President of the UK Zoroastrian Chamber of Commerce (UKZCC) and is a Charter and Board Member of TiE UK. Karan is 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.

This year Karan became a member of the Advisory Board of the Cambridge University Business School (Judge Institute of Management). He is a guest lecturer at Cranfield University School of Management, the Judge Business School and the London Business School, and a Visiting Entrepreneur at the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning, Cambridge University – one of the first two ever to be appointed. In 2007, Karan was named Honorary Fellow of his Cambridge College, Sidney Sussex.

Karan 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, vice patron of the Memorial Gates 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 is also Chairman of the Memorial Gates Committee. In 2007 he was invited to become an Association Member of healthcare company BUPA.

In 2004, on its 250th anniversary year, the RSA honoured Karan with its Albert Medal, in recognition of meeting the RSA Manifesto Challenge to Encourage Enterprise. Karan was awarded the Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in Her Majesty The Queen’s Birthday Honours List, 2004.

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.

Karan 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, and was made an Honorary Doctor of the University by Staffordshire University in July 2006. Karan 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. Earlier this year Karan was awarded the Pravasi Bharti Samman by the President of India. Karan was also awarded the 2008 Entrepreneur Alumnus of the Year at Cranfield School of Management, and he also became an honorary alumnus of the London Business School this year; through the YPO London Business School Growing Your Business Presidents Programme.

In 2005, Karan 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. Karan 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. Cobra Beer was awarded Business of the Year 2003 by the Asian Business Awards, honouring the contribution and extraordinary achievements of Asian businessmen and women.

Karan 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. This year Karan became a Liveryman in the Drapers 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, Karan was appointed The Lord Bilimoria, of Chelsea.