"A keen and passionate voice in the cause of equality and diversity,” Lord Karan Bilimoria, chairman and founder of Cobra Beer Partnership and the first non-white president of the Confederation of British Industry, was among the awardees to be recognized at the 23rd annual GG2 (Galaxy Guide 2) Leadership and Diversity Awards on March 8, 2022 in central London. He was conferred the inaugural GG2 Ram Solanki Beacon Award named after the founder of the Asian Media Group that instituted the awards "to shine a spotlight on Britain’s most enterprising and talented black, Asian and minority ethnic high achievers.”
Bilimoria also features in sixth position on the GG2 Power List that profiles the country’s 101 most influential and powerful South Asians. The first three on this list are cabinet members Rishi Sunak, Sajid Javid and Priti Patel, as per the list shared by Malcolm Deboo, president of the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe. At 15th place is Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer of the Serum Institute of India.
From l: Shailesh Solanki, Lord Karan Bilimoria, Kalpesh Solanki and Lukwesa Burak
at the GG2 awards function; below, r: Archbishop Desmond Tutu
An ambassador of the Tutu Foundation, on February 21, Bilimoria spoke at the memorial service in Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s honor at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square. "In the history of the world, there are a select few who genuinely change the world with the lives they live. People talk about ‘one in a million’ people. Archbishop Tutu was one in billions,” remarked Bilimoria who considered him an inspiration.
Recalling Tutu’s "amazing, spellbinding, mesmerizing speeches,” Bilimoria remembered well Tutu’s "ability to connect, to communicate… quite frankly, beyond compare. That glint in his eyes, the sparkle, the mischief, the humor, the giggling, the laughter, the dance, all magical!”
Bilimoria’s speech, shared by Deboo, alluded to Tutu’s "magnanimity… courage… inclusion…” to change the destiny of South
Africa and its people. "When finally freedom was achieved without the expected bloodbath, all the world wondered. And it was achieved with leadership given by people such as Tutu… He was one of those who spoke out; leading those who spoke out.” Tutu’s life and words may well inspire members of the Zoroastrian community who aspire to be leaders.
Addressing the South African Government in 1988, Tutu maintained, "You have already lost! Let us say so nicely… We are inviting you to come and join the winning side. Your cause is unjust, you are defending what is fundamentally indefensible because it is evil, evil without question. It is immoral…” The following year, in Tutu’s famous speech, the leader asserted, "We are the rainbow people. Our march for freedom is unstoppable. We are the new people of a new South Africa…”
When he won the Nobel prize in 1984 he had said, "The world cares about oppression and injustice. This is their prize to our people.” In his inimitable style he had then commented, "There are three things you need to be a Nobel laureate… an easy name; a long nose and finally a pair of sexy legs!” While Nelson Mandela called him "a voice of the voiceless,” to many others he was the "Truth and Reconciliation Commission” speaking about restorative rather than retributive justice. When made a Fellow by the University of Oxford, he had observed, "We finite creatures can be those who are made for the infinite, for the transcendent!” Always an advocate of non-violence, he reiterated, "I am not a pacifist but a peace lover…” To Bilimoria, Tutu was an entrepreneur who was "courageous, bold and never gave up easily… Truly priceless and truly precious!”