JUDGES
Lord Karan Bilimoria CBE DL
Lord Karan Bilimoria is the founder of Cobra beer, Chairman of the Cobra Beer Partnership Limited, a Joint Venture with Molson Coors, and Chairman of Molson Coors Cobra India.
In the Monde Selection, the Cobra range has collectively been awarded a total of 111 gold and grand gold medals since 2001, making it one of the most awarded beers in the world.
The founding Chairman of the UK India Business Council, a Deputy
Lieutenant of Greater London, a former Chancellor of Thames Valley
University (now the University of West London), Lord Bilimoria was the
youngest University Chancellor in the UK when appointed. He is currently the Chancellor of the University of Birmingham. Lord Bilimoria was recently elected as the Vice President of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
Karan is one of the first two visiting entrepreneurs at the University
of Cambridge. In 2006, Karan Bilimoria was appointed the Lord Bilimoria of Chelsea, making him the first ever Zoroastrian Parsi to sit in the House of Lords.
Dr Zoe Mandich
Dr Zoe Mandich has a wealth of international experience gained at major blue chip global companies such as Marconi Communications, Nortel Networks, T-Mobile International, and Motorola where she was the senior global director for government and Enterprise solutions. Dr Zoe has expertise includes building mobile applications and creating joint venture partner strategy at T-Mobile International and launching extensive go-to-market strategies, new high tech products for Enterprise solutions at Motorola covering, Europe, Middle East and Africa.
More recently Dr Zoe worked for the high growth start-up companies in UK where she was responsible for the growth and scale up of the businesses and their expansion to the US, Canada and other European countries.
She has expertise and in-depth know how for taking leading edge technology and new products to emerging markets. Dr Mandich also combines a commercial, customer centric approach with a high level of technical ability. She is a qualified electrical and electronic engineer, with a PhD in Biomedical engineering from Imperial college of science and technology in London and holds an Executive MBA from Cranfield Scholl of Management. She is married with 2 children both pursuing professional careers in law and sales.
Passionate about technology, Dr Mandich helps start-ups to succeed using her knowledge and experience gained over many years at global companies.
Dr Nazia Khanum OBE DL
Director, Equality in Diversity
Chair, United Nations Association-Luton
Dr Nazia Khanum OBE, DL has a BA Hons and an MA in Political Science and a PhD in History. She has been a university lecturer, head of equalities in five English local authorities, founder director of Equality in Diversity, and a researcher, trainer and a campaigner for human rights, equality, justice and fairness nationally and globally.
Having established Equality in Diversity – an independent management, research and training consultancy in 1997, which is also a community empowerment organisation working in the voluntary sector towards achieving equal opportunities for all – Dr Khanum’s clients include government departments, local authorities, the former Housing Corporation, housing associations, educational institutions, police and probation services, local government associations and diverse voluntary and community organisations.
Forced Marriage, family cohesion and community engagement, Dr Khanum’s influential national research sponsored by the Home Office and Metropolitan Police, contributed towards the recommendations made by the Home Affairs Select Committee report on Domestic Violence, Forced Marriage and “Honour-Based” Violence.
She has received many awards for her contribution to equal opportunities, community empowerment and social cohesion, from diverse communities, the Mayor of Luton and from national and international organisations, an OBE from the Queen, an honorary doctorate from the University of Bedfordshire and recognition as an Ambassador for World Peace from the Women’s Federation for World Peace. Dr Khanum is proud of her rich Bangladeshi and British heritage and strongly believes that the Bangladeshi community in Britain is an aspiring, talented and hardworking community.
