Page 14 - MASALA LITE ISSUE 86 | NOVEMBER2017
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                                                                       Beer



















                                                                       NECESSITIES











                                                                                        Tech head turned entrepreneur,

                                                                                        Sajan Khanijou’s new business

                                                                                        venture, Beerlicious is ready to

                                                                                         take the Thai market by storm.


                                                                                                  BY DEBOSHREE BANERJEE



                                                                                             Sajan Khanijou’s new business enterprise, Beerlicious
                                                                                               specialises in importing and distributing carefully selected,
                                                                                                 award-winning beers from around the world. This rapidly
                                                                                                  growing brand is one to watch out for, as it is already
                                                                                                   brewing up momentum in the competitive craft beer
                                                                                                    market in Thailand.
                                                                                                            Bit by the entrepreneurial bug, Sajan disliked
                                                                                                     the idea of working for someone else and so he
                                                                                                     decided to take the plunge into the start-up world.
                                                                                                     His inspiration stemmed from his desire to branch
                                                                                                     out from his family’s textile fi rm, Jack and Dave
                                                                                                     and restaurant business, Indian by Nature.
                                                                                                          Originally from Pattaya, Sajan spent six years
                                                                                                     in Australia pursuing two Bachelor degrees in
                                                                                                     Business Management and Information Technology,
                                                                                                     and then working to gain suffi  cient experience
                                                                                                     in IT consulting. He later returned home to start
                                                                                                    his own IT consultation and development fi rm
                                                                                                    called Accelerate Asia. However, he now sees this
                                                                                                   endeavour as his part-time work, as his full-time job
                                                                                                   at Beerlicious has more potential for growth.
                                                                                                        He came up with the idea to import beer with his
                                                                                                 brother, Karan Khanijou and university friend, Rajeev
                                                                                                Jayakumar, who are now his business partners. “We studied
                                                                                              together in Australia and drank a lot of Australian beer,” he
                                                                                           reminisces with a smile. “So we decided to import our favourite
                                                                                        products and venture into this fi eld.” The fi rst shipment arrived in June
                                                                                    2017, and Beerlicious was successfully launched with six imported brands
                                                                                  from Bridge Road Brewers.
                                                                                     Since then, the company has branched out
                                                                                 to include UK-based products by establishing
                                                                                 a contract with Molson Coors, the world’s
                                                                                 seventh largest brewing company in volume.
                                                                                 Sajan considers this accomplishment to be one
                                                                                 of the biggest so far.






                                                                                          “Everything we sell
                                                                                        is based on our taste
                                                                                           because we have
                                                                                              to like what

                                                                                              we provide.”



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