Careers

The snake charmer

Karan Bilimoria CBE says his accountancy training played a big part in building his empire

By Heidi Whettingsteel

How often have you sat with a group of friends ranting on about how you could make a million if you knew a way to improve... blah, blah, blah.
Well that's exactly what Karan Bilimoria CBE did – the difference being he actually put his idea into action and has ended up creating a £65 million-turnover company with a 72 per cent share. And, as a bonus, he has just been awarded the ICAEW Outstanding Achievement award.
Bilimoria, 43, is the founder of Cobra Beer, a drink now served in 6,000 restaurants, 5,000 pubs, bars and clubs and exported to 30 countries worldwide. His business idea came from his law student days at Cambridge where his love of curries did not sit so well with his love of English ale. "Ale is too heavy to drink with curry and lager is too gassy," says Bilimoria. So in 1990 he began importing a smooth but light beer from India, which soon became a winning idea.
It was obviously not as easy as all that. Bilimoria admits much of his success is thanks to his accountancy background. "It was hugely beneficial when I went to the bank manager for an overdraft – he was reassured that I was an accountant." The training was also great from a business planning perspective: "I knew where to go to raise finance from a variety of different sources... the main challenge was retaining the shares – it's just textbook stuff for an accountant."
Bilimoria trained as a chartered accountant with Arthur Young – now Ernst & Young – a place he says he felt "privileged" to work. The personal development, internal training, professional systems and approaches he learned gave him an edge for the business world – the best part for him was going out on an audit: "It was inspiring to see how things actually worked from inside the client's premises."
Halfway through his training Bilimoria realised accountancy was not for him. "I needed more freedom of opportunity, and knew I wanted to run my own business."
Once it was up and running he realised that it wasn't just his technical training that helped. "I learned so much about people skills and managing, learning how to lead and how to work under challenging circumstances – it was invaluable experience."
Although from a well-educated background, Bilimoria is open-minded about qualifications.
"What works for one is not necessarily right for another... it is not essential to be formally educated," he insists. "But the ACA qualification itself is of huge value; it is respected worldwide, and stands you in good stead forever. It is a huge advantage to know you can always fall back on it."

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