karan bilimoria
A curry and Cobra are the staple diet of many blokes. Where did you get the idea?
It really began when I was a student. I was drinking bloating, fizzy lager in Indian restaurants and dreamed of bringing my own Indian beer into the country. Eurofizz beers are poor partners to spicy food and so I wanted to produce a really good quality lager which would complement rather than fight against Indian food. I left university £20,000 in debt and raised the money in the early days from loans and overdrafts. In the beginning, people had to believe and trust in me as an individual. Later on, a good solid business plan and faith in the product were key.
Beer wasn't your first business idea, was
it?
In fact, I was looking to import seafood from India and in the
process got a chance introduction to Mysore Breweries and Dr Cariapa,
a Czech-trained brew master, in 1989 and that was the beginning of
the company.
We came up with a name for the beer that would link back to India,
without being obvious or corny. Cobra is short, sharp, punchy,
memorable and has a feeling of having existed for centuries.
When we had made the first shipment, a priest came into the brewery,
said some prayers and blessed it - it's an Indian tradition for new
business ventures.
What happened at this end?
Our first office was on the second and third floor of a terrace
house on the Fulham Palace Road in London. Taking delivery of
pallets of beers (which weighed a ton) up three flights of stairs
was hard work so a local newsagent took pity on us and offered his
cellar as storage space, free of charge. I realised that
distribution was the key and I took the first deliveries of Cobra to
Indian restaurants in my 2CV. Now,
ten years later, Cobra has a turnover of £10 million and it is
growing at a rate of over 50 per cent a year.
Timeline
1961 Born in Hyderabad to the
Commander-in-Chief of the Central Indian Army
1981 Arrived in England to study
1986 Qualified as a Chartered
Accountant
1988 Graduated in Law from
Cambridge University
1989 Started first business venture
- selling polo sticks to Harrods
1990 Started Cobra Beer
1993 Married South African, Heather
1996 Son, Kai born
1998 Daughter, Zara born
1999 Launched General Bilimoria
wine
2000 Company ranked in the Fast
Track 100 League Table
Five tips for business success
Where there's a will there's a way.
Give customers what they want.
Treat customers and suppliers with the same respect.
Be passionate and enthusiastic about your business; believe in and
be proud of what you're doing.
Be creative; don't follow.
Three-hour power lunch or sandwich at desk?
Given the nature of the business, lunch meetings at Indian
restaurants are a regular feature.
What do you wear at work?
Something that I feel comfortable in and is appropriate for the
day's activities. There is no dress code at Cobra.
How do you motivate your staff?
I would hope that it is the casual, friendly, open, buzzing
environment that motivates the staff - and not the free beer!
What do you keep on the top of your desk?
What don't I keep on my desk - the essentials are photos of my
family, my phone, my fountain pen and Post-it-notes.
Working hours?
Much to my wife's dismay - nearly 24/7!
Do you enjoy business trips?
They can be extremely enjoyable - like my last trip to France,
where I spent one of the mornings tasting 25 different wines.
What one thing would you never be without on business trips?
I would never be without Alka Seltzer.
What do you do if you can't get what you want at work?
Not applicable to me.
Do you drink Cobra yourself?
Absolutely, as I said you have to be passionate about your
product and I am!
Most outrageous deal?
At Cambridge, I was captain of the university polo team and on a
tour to India realised that Indian polo sticks were lighter and
whippier and had a price advantage on what was on sale here. There
was a ban on Argentinean sticks at the time and sheer persistence
got us into Harrods.