- Conference Speakers
Topics:
- Business
- Leadership
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Karan Bilimoria
An expert speaker on business, leadership and marketing & branding Karan is mesmorising at any conference he attends.
How Cobra Started
Having qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst and 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. Fifteen 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. Cobra Beer was awarded two Grand Gold Medals and nine Gold Medals (more than any other beer company in the world) at the 2005 Monde Selection, Brussels, World Selection of Quality Awards. Monde Selection also presented Cobra with the International High Quality Trophy in 2003 for its achievements.
Other Ventures
In 1999 Karan launched the General Bilimoria Wine brand with wines produced in France, which is now the house wine of hundreds of restaurants, including being listed in top Michelin-starred restaurants. A range of South African wines were added to the General Bilimoria portfolio in 2002, and a Spanish range was added in 2004.
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. He is the Chancellor of Thames Valley University - the youngest university Chancellor in the UK. 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 Indo British Partnership Network (IBPN). He is also a member of the Chancellor’s newly created Asia Task Force. Karan is the Vice Chairman of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Asian Business Association and a member of the Bank of England – LCCI / Asian Business Association Panel. 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.
Lecturing and Charities
Karan is a guest lecturer at Cranfield University School of Management, the Cambridge University Business School (The Judge Institute of Management) 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.
Karan directly supports a number of charities and is a patron of the Thare Mache Starfish Initiative, patron of Rethink severe mental illness, 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 Chairman of the Memorial Gates Committee.
Accolades
In its 250th anniversary year, 2004, 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.
In October of 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.
