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Lord Karan Bilimoria

Lord Karan Bilimoria

OUR subject was in the air when we called. Not literally – Lord Karan Bilimoria was in between business trips. He had just come from South Africa and was on his way to France via a post-Davos (January) meeting in Switzerland. If that does not tell you how influential this crossbench peer is, then consider this. The past year – 2023 – was awful for the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Remember that the CBI is considered the body which represents the country’s bosses. It was hit by a scandal after allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Dozens of its corporate bluechip members left. The organisation asked Bilimoria, who had served as its president between 2020 and 2022, to stay on as its vice president for an extra six months. He finally stepped down last December. “It was a severe crisis, an existential crisis, for the CBI,” the peer told the GG2 Power List. “We had weekly board meetings taking place, and I could have said, ‘Look, I’m not in the driving seat anymore. This is not on my watch.’ But I felt an absolute obligation to help save a national organisation and a Royal Charter institution, and we had to get the confidence back.” There were meetings, discussions, investigations, reviews – a new director general, and new senior staff and LordBilmoria felt like it was all going somewhere. “We had to take some very tough decisions,” he told this publication. Things have turned around, he argued.


The government and others had come back on board. He had to speak to old university friends to get the government back. “The members that have suspended, lifted their suspension. Even Birmingham University, where I’m chancellor had suspended their membership, members which resigned have re-joined.” He accepts not everything is back to what it was but maintains significant progress has been made. It is in a stronger position and continuing to win the trust it had lost earlier. But overall the past year has been “really, really bad”. The events of October 7 in Israel have presented an other shock to the world economy, he said.

“I was on a parliamentary delegation visit to Israel in May last year, and we were very disillusioned and disappointed with the situation in the region in Israel, the political situation. But we had no question about the security. We thought Israel was on top of the security, and none of us predicted what happened on October 7, and that was horrible. It was an awful, awful tragedy. Since then, what has happened has been absolutely awful. “And of course, it affects the world – one of the most important shipping channels in the world – that could affect inflation as well.” Houthi rebels have already attacked commercial shipping in support of Hamas, which is continuing to fight the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip and both the US and UK and other countries with commercial shipping interests in the region have vowed to keep the channel open and in response to rebel attacks -hit back. The peer first came to the UK ‘for a couple of years’ when he was 11.

His late father, Lieutenant-General Faridoon Noshir (‘Billy’) Bilimoria – who rose to become the general officer commanding-in-chief in the Indian army – was a liaison officer to the British army. But it was aged 19 that he moved to Britain on a scholarship for his charted accountancy with Ernst Young. Bilimoria then read law at Sidney Sus sex at Cam bridge. In 1989, he co founded Cobra Beer, which captured the Indian restaurant market in the UK. But in 2009, the company went into administration, and was saved by a deal with north American brewers, Molson Coors. He appreciates how different life could have been if the company had gone under.

“The one aspect of Cobra that I’ve seen over its 33 years of existence has been how resilient the brand is. “We’ve been through recessions, we’ve been through Covid, even when the restaurants were shut. The brand did really well in the off trade and the supermarkets. It bounced back straightaway, and our restaurant sales have done incredibly well. The restaurants themselves have been amazing and resilient. I’m always inspired by my customers and almost 7,000 curry restaurants that we supply. I’m constantly inspired by how robust they are, how resilient they are in the toughest of times. They’re pioneering entrepreneurs, starting businesses, often with nothing and then they become part of their community, they give back to their communities.

Cobra is fortunate to have this very, very solid base of these restaurants that are wonderful.” Bilimoria is a crossbench peer, which means he is not allied to a particular political party. That means he is able to engage, give his thoughts to, and share his wisdom with anyone, especially in an election year. Such is his influence he has worked closely with the father-in-law of UK prime minister Rishi Sunak, NR Narayana Murthy, the billionaire founder of tech-company Infosys. Bilimoria also worked closely with Sunak when he was CBI president to his chancellor. He praises Sunak and believes his business and investment banking background help the cause of enterprise. He has equal praise for the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, describing him as “very de cent” and believes he has turned around the party, once enthralled by Jeremy Corbyn and the Hard Left.

Even though Bilimoria ended his tenure as CBI president and vice-president, he will go down in history as the first person of colour at its helm. He is also clear that he will continue to influence the “change the race ratio” agenda. The peer launched his campaign to increase racial and ethnic participation in business in October 2020, of which he is now president. As of February 2024, 113 companies in 30 sectors, employing almost 600,000 people have signed up.

“It’s a well-established initiative now, with many leading 100 and 250 FTSE companies, universities and organisations that are members. They are promoting and championing ethnic minority diversity in all businesses. Not only in directorships, but also the executive committee teams. “We also have transparency with the ethnic minority pay gap which exists sadly, and should not exist, and most importantly, promoting inclusion because diversity without inclusion is useless. So, we have regular work shops, initiatives, steering group ambassadors, events. So, it’s a very active initiative, which I’m very proud of.”

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