Karan Bilimoria was born in Hyderabad in 1961. After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young, London, and graduating in Law from Cambridge University, in 1989, Karan Bilimoria founded Cobra Beer Ltd. Developed as a less gassy, premium lager brewed to perfectly compliment Indian food, Cobra Beer has become one of the fastest growing beer brands in the UK today. Sold in 45 countries worldwide, the brand has a current retail value of £126 million, and is available to 6,000 establishments and in leading multiples, supermarkets and off-licenses throughout the UK. At the 2007 Monde selection, World Selection of Quality Awards, Cobra Beer was awarded 20 Gold Medals – more than any other been in the world for the third year running.

In 1999, Karan launched the General Bilimoria Wine brand. Named after his father, Lt. General F.N. Bilimoria, the wines are now the premium house wines in hundreds of Indian restaurants.

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 Representative Deputy Lieutenant for the London Borough of Hounslow and the Chancellor of Thames Valley University. 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). A member of the Chancellor’s Asia Task Force and the UK-India Round Table, Karan is also the Deputy Chairman of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Karan is a guest lecturer at Cranfield University School of Management, the Cambridge University Business School (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. In 2007, Karan was named Honorary Fellow of his Cambridge college, Sidney Sussex. He is also a member of t