'Bottled for Business' tells the inspirational success story of Karan Bilimoria - the founder and Chief Executive of Cobra Beer. Karan shares his business principles and gives an insight into how he has made Cobra one of the UK's fastest growing beer brands and built it into a hugely successful global business in little more than 15 years.

Karan Bilimoria was 27 years old and had student debts of £20,000 when he set off on his mission to brew the finest ever Indian beer and to make it a global beer brand. With no prior knowledge of the marketplace, and at the beginning of one of the UK's worst recessions, Karan entered the most competitive beer market in the world - and took on an industry already packed with established brands.

It was with persistence, determination and a passionate belief in his product that Karan launched Cobra in 1990, personally delivering cases of beer to his customers in a battered, bright-green Citroen 2CV. By the beginning of 1991, the company achieved one of its first important milestones, reaching 100 Indian restaurants. Today, the brand has grown to supply nearly 6,000 Indian restaurants, 6,000 bars, clubs and pubs, and over 12,000 branches of leading multiples, supermarkets and off-licenses throughout the UK. Cobra Beer is enjoyed in over 45 countries worldwide, and the brand boasts a retail value turnover of over £96 million.

'Bottled for Business' follows Karan's journey from the very beginning, charting the key decisions made, obstacles overcome, and pivotal moments in the company's history that helped turn a half-formed idea into a global drinks business. Crammed full of business tips, insights and interviews with key players at Cobra, the book will help anyone interested in taking a good idea and turning it into a successful business.

In 'Bottled for Business', Karan Bilimoria outlines his views and advice on:

• What it takes to be a successful entrepreneur and the challenges entrepreneurs face
• Innovation and creativity - the currency in which entrepreneurs trade
• Bridging the 'credibility gap' and establishing a reputation
• How to stay ahead of the competition
• Turning threats into opportunities
• The value of seeking external, expert advice and the importance of employing the best advisors
• The role of the CEO
• Knowing when and who to recruit, effectively managing staff and building a great company culture
• Effective delegation and leadership
• The importance of looking after and believing in your product
• Getting to know your market
• Raising finance and funding growth, while retaining ownership
• The key elements of crisis management
• The virtues of lifelong learning

DID YOU KNOW…?

Cobra Beer nearly wasn't Cobra at all… Two weeks away from bottling a new beer called Panther, the distributors telephoned to say that although customers liked the beer, they didn't like the name. By pure chance the printers hadn't started printing the labels. Stop the press! said Karan, and two weeks before the first shipment of beer left India he and his brother designed the new branding, the Cobra label, from scratch.

Each Cobra Beer bottle is embossed with six icons which depict the Cobra story visually: a family crest (denoting the general's son in honour of Karan's father, a general in the Indian Army), an adult elephant with its calf (learning lessons in lager), a snake charmer (charming beer), a pair of scales (against all odds), two palm trees next to a building (from Bangalore to Bedford) and a boat carrying beer barrels (around the world). The Cobra bottle has won numerous awards for its innovative packaging,

BILIMORIA-ISMS

• Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment
• Whenever you are given a task, the first thing is to do it. The second thing is to always do that little bit extra that you were not asked to do. Be innovative, be creative, go the extra mile
• It's important to have not just an efficient team but a happy and efficient team
• Know how and know why
• Give people respect and give people trust
• Hire for will, not skill
• Engage, enrich, enjoy

BILIMORIA'S BUSINESS TIPS: THE 7Ps (OR 6Ps and 1F)

• Product
• Price
• Promotion
• Place
• People
• Passion
• Finance, or Phinance

THE STORY CONTINUES…

Over the summer, Cobra announced that it successfully raised a total of £27.5 million to fund the next phase of the company's development, primarily focusing on accelerating business growth in the UK and India as well as continuing to develop the company's South African and export activities.

In September, Cobra Beer secured a much coveted place among the list of the UK's coolest brands for the second successive year. 'CoolBrands' is an unprecedented initiative from Superbrands Ltd - the world's leading authority on branding, considered a key barometer of the brands, people and places that have become extremely desirable among many style leaders and influencers.

September also saw Cobra Beer launch its biggest ever national TV campaign - 'Unusual Thing, Excellence' - a heavyweight through-the-line campaign targeting discerning 25-34 year old lager drinkers. The campaign had a total spend of £10 million pounds.

Karan Bilimoria was recently on the judging panel for Sky One's 'The Big Idea', alongside Ruth Badger and inventor of the Predator football boot and ex-Liverpool FC player Craig Johnston, in a UK-wide search for inventors and entrepreneurs.

ABOUT LORD BILIMORIA, CBE, DL

Born in India, Karan Bilimoria came to the UK for his higher education as a 19-year-old.

Having qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst and Young, London, and graduated in Law from Cambridge University, Karan developed a less gassy, premium lager brewed to perfectly appeal to both ale drinkers and lager drinkers alike and to complement food.

Little more than fifteen years later, Cobra Beer is one of the fastest growing beer brands in the UK and one of the most innovative young companies in the country. The brand has a current retail value turnover of £96 million, is sold in nearly 6,000 Indian restaurants, and is available to 6,000 bars, pubs and clubs and in leading multiples, supermarkets and off-licenses throughout the UK. Cobra Beer was awarded 12 Gold Medals at the 2006 Monde Selection, Brussels, World Selection of Quality Awards - more than any other beer in the world and one more than the company's already world-beating total in 2005.

Although Karan started Cobra in 1990 when he was £20,000 in debt and up against all odds, Cobra has grown into an operation with offices on four continents and exports to over 45 countries, with brewing operations in five countries. Karan is widely respected for his entrepreneurial spirit. He is the Representative Deputy Lieutenant of the London Borough of Hounslow and among many other positions serves as Chancellor of Thames Valley University -the UK's youngest at the time of his appointment. Karan is one of the first two Visiting Entrepreneurs ever appointed at Cambridge University, serves as National Champion of the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship, and is a Champion of the Enterprise Insight Make Your Mark campaign. He sits on the Government's National Employment Panel (NEP), and from 2001 to 2005 was Chairman of the NEP's SME Board. Additionally, Karan serves as UK Chairman of the Indo British Partnership and Vice-Chairman of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Asian Business Association, and sits on the UK-India Round Table and the Asia Task Force. He lectures extensively in the UK and abroad on entrepreneurship, business, education, and the Indo-British relationship.

Karan also directly supports a number of charities, serving as a patron of the Thare Mache Starfish Initiative, a patron of Rethink severe mental illness, and as 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 and a member of the Advisory Council of CIDA Foundation UK.

Karan has won numerous awards in recognition of his business achievements and charitable work, including the RSA's Albert Medal in the Society's 250th anniversary year, 2004. He was named Entrepreneur of the Year 2003 and Business Person of the Year 2004 by the London Business Awards, Entrepreneur of the Year 2004 at the National Business Awards (London and South East of England) and London Entrepreneur of the Year 2003 (Consumer Products) by Ernst & Young. In 2005, Karan was honoured with the Award for Outstanding Achievement by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales in the Institute's 125th anniversary year. He was named Man of the Year at the 2006 Drinks Business Awards. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by Brunel University, Heriot-Watt University and Staffordshire University.

In July 2006, Karan Bilimoria officially took his seat on the crossbenches of the House of Lords. As The Lord Bilimoria, of Chelsea, Karan is one of Britain's youngest peers and the first ever Zoroastrian Parsi to sit in the House of Lords.

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