January 2004
Even the most financially astute of entrepreneurs will need help with the figures eventually. As a qualified chartered accountant and having graduating with a law degree from Cambridge, when Karan Bilimoria founded Indian brewing company Cobra Beer back in 1989 he felt he was perfectly capable of managing the financial aspects of the business himself. It wasn't until he was facing a flotation that he realised an FD was required.
"In the early days I looked after everything. It was great because I now know about all aspects of my business, from marketing to deliveries, because I've been involved in each area personally. With my experience I felt very comfortable looking after the finances from day one." he says.
But as the business began to expand rapidly, Bilimoria decided to outsource the firm's financial requirements to Grant Thornton, which he describes as "expensive but excellent". By 1996 he realised Cobra's needs were such it was time to hire an in-house financial controller to manage the figures on a day-to-day basis and build up an accounts department.
However, even with this arrangement, Bilimoria found he was still fulfilling the FD's role himself, particularly when it came to looking for external investment. If he wanted to take his company on to the stock market this would have to be rectified.
Initially Bilimoria used Grant Thornton's recruitment service to find someone suitable to take over this responsibility. An advert for the position was all ready to run in the national press when Dynhsaw Italia rang up. He was currently working as FD for travel website ebookers having been one of their first six employees, but was now looking for a new challenge.
"He'd been FD there from day one, had overseen a flotation on NASDAQ, three listings, and the dotcom boom and bust and was still only 30. Ebookers weren't keen on letting him go but I felt he was perfect so told Grant Thornton to stop the process immediately. Once they met him they agreed with my judgement," says Bilimoria.
Once on board one of the biggest challenges Italia faced was integrating himself within a company which had grown up without him, particularly as he would now be the boss of the existing financial controller. "He could have been resented, he's instituted some painful changes and extra cost controls, but it's been no problem because of the way he operates. There has to be trust and respect and it helps to have someone who's very commercial and not just about figures."
Cobra, like Italia, has gone from strength to strength - now turning over £56.9m and exporting to 30 countries. Even though the initial plans for a flotation were shelved due to a downturn in the market, bringing Italia on board meant this has not delayed any of the company's planned expansion and he's been crucial in securing outside investment.
"Dynshaw is very proactive," says Bilimoria. "Accountants do tend to be conservative and cautious and they act like a brake on the wilder ideas. But he's not negative and is ready to take risks. In terms of our IT systems, financial controls and crisis management he's done wonders for us. So many things have been accomplished that in other businesses would just have been put off."