Naresh Nagrecha

Nagrecha has been a pioneer in the exotic food and beverage industry as co-founder of Rubicon Exotic Drinks and Shana Foods. His love for innovation and business resulted in further diversification, leading him to venture into many successful investments across the globe.

Born in 1950 in Kamuli, Uganda to the late Jamnaben and Gordhandas Nagrecha, he moved to the UK in 1972 upon the expulsion of Ugandan Asians by Idi Amin. After settling in the UK, he completed his master’s in food science from the University of Reading and then attended Wilson College in Mumbai, India.

He started his career at Schweppes, where he was inspired to start his own beverage business in 1981, along with his colleague Vish Vikera. Since the creation of its first wildly successful drink, Passionate, a year later, Rubicon has become the market leader in exotic juice drinks, and by the time they sold the business in 2008, the brand was available in all major supermarkets with the company producing over 50 million liters per year and employing more than 100 people in the UK and Canada.