Hyderabad, December' 2002: Karan Bilimoria, Founder and Chief
Executive of Cobra Beer, has been named "Asian of the Year 2002". This
prestigious award recognises the achievements and contributions of
British Asians and coincides with the launch of the 15th edition of
Asian Who’s Who, a book which symbolises Asian success and contributions
of British Asians.
A host of leading NRIs including Lord Swarj Paul, Imran Khan, Baroness
Flather, SirAnwar Pervez, Raj Loomba, Sir Gulam Noon, Lord Dholakia,
Lord Bhiku Parekh, all previous winners of the award also attend the
function.
Karan Bilimoria was born in Hyderabad, in India in 1961, the son of
Lt.General F.N.Bilimoria, PVSM, ADC. On recieving the Award in London,
Karan Bilimoria stated: " When I first came to Britian I was told that ,
as an Asian, if you wanted to succeed here was only so far you could go
before you hit a glass ceiling. What I have came to learn , from
creating Cobra Beer from scratch and against all odds in the most
competitive Beer market in the world, is that if you have the passion,
drive and aspiration to succeed, there is no greater or more
meritocratic country in which to achieve this than Great Britain.
I believe that here, there is an opportunirty for anyone to succeed
regardless of race, religion or background. The Asian community is doing
so well in the UK in every field including business, politics, sports ,
medicine and the arts. I am fortunate to feel equally at home in both
the UK and India, I am proud of my Zoroastrian, Parsi roots , my Indian
heritage, being an Asian and being British.
To recieve this Award is extraordinarily important to me and I will
treasure it. I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to those past winners
who have truly inspired me. Their own passion and commitment to achieve
against all odds has been of great importance to me . Our vision at
Cobra is to ‘aspire and achieve against all odds’ and I sincerely hope
that my winning this Award will be an inspiration to a new generation of
young Asians to follow their dreams and achieve to the very highest
level."
Karan Bilimoria was also presented the Executive Association of Great
Britain’s Outstanding Achievement Award in 2002, and in 2001 was the
receipient of the India - NRI Millennium Honour awarded to him by the
Non-Resident Indian Institute UK.
After having qualifiied as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst and Young,
London, and graduated in Law from Cambridge University, in 1990 Karan
Bilimoria developed a less gassy Indian lager designed to perfectly
compliment Indian cuisine and appeal to ale drinkers. Twelve 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.
The brand has a current retail value turnover approaching pounds 50
million and is old in over 5000 Indian restaurants and leading
multiplexes throughout the UK, and has been exported to over 30
countries.
In 1999 Karan launched the General Bilimoria Wine brand, which is now
the house wine of hundreds of Indian restaurants, including the two
Indian restaurants awarded Michelin Stars this year and many other top
London establishments.
Karan is a member of the Government’s National Employment Panel and is
the Chairman of The Panel’s Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (SME)
Board. He is a Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London and has recently been
appointed a Mentor in the Joint Police Mentoring initiative. He is a
Governor of Thames Valley University and a Fellow of the Royal Society
of Arts. In addition, Karan is a committee member of the London Chamber
of Commerce and Industry’s Asian Business Association and a charter and
board member of TiE UK. He is a member of the Young President’s
Organisation. Karan is also a member of the committee Bank of England -
LCCI / Asian Business Association Panel; the President’s Committee of
London First and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office - UK India
Consultative Group.
Karan is a guest lecturer at Cranfield University School of Management,
the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, the
Cambridge University Business School (The Judge Institute of Management)
and the London Business School.
Karan directly supports a number of charities and is a patron of the
Thare Mache Starfish Initiative, 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.
About Cobra Beer
Cobra Beer is by far the biggest selling bottled Indian beer in the UK.
Over 25% of people in the UK eat curry once a week and nearly 50% once
in a fortnight. The total retail and restaurant sale of Indian food is
fast becoming more and more popular worldwide.
With Cobra’s in-depth industry knowledge, further expansion in the
Indian restaurant market alone is enormous. This combined with the vast,
largely untapped mainstream market and Cobra’s expertise in brand
building makes the potential for continued growth virtually unlimited.
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