Having a long-term vision
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It's important to always take a long-term view. By this I mean one that is several years ahead. It's all about constantly looking ahead and setting goals and targets. A huge advantage that a growing entrepreneurial company can have is the ability to take a very long-term view which actually exists right from the very beginning. I remembered recently when I was in India and my mother said: "I've just found some papers that have been lying around for ages. Can you go through them? You'll probably need to throw them away."
I looked through these papers and there amongst them was a whole batch from the visit to India in early 1990, when I had gone there to set up Cobra beer from scratch. In amongst these papers was a printout of a spreadsheet that I had actually prepared in the breweries' computer room. There were no PC's in those days in Bangalore, India. I had to go into the computer room and I remember I had carried out a forecast on Lotus; a five-year forecast, month-by-month, container-by-container of the shipments of Cobra beer. This was before I'd ever shipped or sold one bottle of beer and we beat that five-year forecast.
view textWhatever stage you are at in a business, always think long-term. By looking ahead you can set yourself targets and goals, and have a real, defined benchmark by which to measure your progress and success.
Lord Bilimoria
Founder and CEO, Cobra Beer
Lord Karan Bilimoria started his career at Ernst & Young in 1982, where he spent four years working in audit, tax, training, and accounting.
He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1986 and graduated in Law from Cambridge University in 1988. He then worked at Cresvale in London (part of S&W Beresford) as a Consulting Accountant.
In 1989 he moved to European Accounting Focus magazine as its Sales and Marketing Director.
Later that year he founded Cobra Beer, realizing his ambition to develop a less gassy premium lager brewed to appeal to ale drinkers and lager drinkers alike, while complementing the food.
He then extended into other markets with the launch of General Bilimoria Wines in 1999, and Tandoori Magazine and tandoorimagazine.com. He has also founded curryzone.com, and is the Founder and Chairman of Cobrabyte Technologies.
Additionally, Lord Bilimoria is Chairman of the Government's National Employment Panel's Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Board. He is also Vice Chairman of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Asian Business Association. He received his peerage in 2006.
