Gulu Lalvani

Gulu Lalvani
Born 9 March 1939
Karachi, British India
Nationality British
Occupation Entrepreneur

Gulu Lalvani is a British Asian businessman of Indian origins, known for being the founder and chairman of Binatone, a manufacturer of digital cordless phones.

Gulu Lalvani, a famous Sindhi Sikh, was born in Karachi, Pakistan (then part of British India). Like other Sindhis, he emigrated from Pakistan and took Indian citizenship. He originates from Karachi (British India)[1] and was raised in Bombay. Lalvani came to Britain as a student.

He founded Binatone in 1958 with his brothers, Kartar Singh Lalvani and Partap Singh Lalvani, to import radios from Hong Kong. In 1989, Partap and he divided the business geographically and both brothers now own their own Binatone groups operating in different parts of the world. Kartar Lalvani founded Vitabiotics, which is today run by him and his son Tej. Today Binatone International Limited is one of the largest privately owned consumer electronics companies in the UK. It once enjoyed nearly a 15% market share in the domestic telephone sector in the UK.. In 2010, Lalvani handed over (or sold) the reins of Binatone to his eldest son, Dino, so that he could focus on other businesses.

Other assets include the £32m Royal Phuket Marina. He featured in an article in Millionaire Asia.

Gulu Lalvani also has connections in Hong Kong where he is well known. He was also associated with the Princess of Wales (Princess Diana)where he was reportedly 'used' by the Princess.[2]

He was often an annoyance to Alan Sugar: "Gulu had this pathological obsession with me and wanted to try and scupper whatever I was involved in."[3]

He became a vegan after watching the documentary Eating[4] by Mike Anderson, and convinced Steve Wynn to do the same.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Amstrad's Watkins goes to Binatone, The Independent
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ Sugar, Alan, What You See Is What You Get, 2010, p.384
  4. ↑ Eating 2nd Edition : Mike Anderson : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive
  5. ↑ "The Rise of the Power Vegans". BusinessWeek. November 4, 2010.
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