Kiran Mazumdar Shaw: The woman power behind Biocon Ltd.
A woman of vision, she’s a woman with desires, she’s an Indian billionaire entrepreneur who tries to learn every single day, she built her own fortune from scratch. She is Kiran Mazumdar Shaw. A woman inspiring millions of budding entrepreneurs. She is a self-made billionaire who values hard work, perseverance, and dedication. She is known for breaking all barriers. The one who worked hard to achieve her goals is currently the chairperson and Managing Director of the leading biopharmaceutical company in the world Biocon limited.
Kiran was born in Bangalore, India on March 23, 1953, she completed her schooling at Bishops Cotton girl’s high school in 1968. She completed her graduation in zoology from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore in 1973. Kiran’s father Mr. Rasendra Mazumdar was a repeated head brewmaster at United breweries. He was a man of vision and wanted her to get exposed to fermentation science. He trained her to become the only woman to enroll herself in the brewing course at Ballarat institute of advanced education. She was taught malting and brewing from Federation University. She performed phenomenally in the class and thus she topped the class and graduated as a master brewer.
Entrepreneurial journey of Kiran Mazumdar
Kiran was ready to enter into the professional world. To learn and gain deeper as a trainee in Carlton and United Breweries in 1974. She also took training from Barrat Brothers and Burston in Australia. After returning home she joined Jupiter technical consultants and later worked as a malting corporation in Baroda. In the mid 70’s Leslie Auchincloss founder of Ireland-based Biocon biochemical limited was looking for an Indian entrepreneur who could help him establish an Indian subsidiary. Kiran collaborated with the company and this opportunity became a life turning event for her. Leslie trained Kiran to become the manager at his company in Ireland. As a trainee manager. She understood the revenue model of the company. After returning to India she returned a garage space in Bangalore with an investment of Rs 10,000.
Even though the joint venture between Kiran and Leslie’s company began in India but it wasn’t easy for her. As biotechnology was a completely new field. She faced a lot of difficulties in establishing the company and getting the loans approved by banks recruiting and convincing people to join a startup wasn’t easy at all. Her first employee was a retired garage mechanic. It was also a tiring process to arrange sterile labs, efficient workers, necessary research equipment, and other scientific skills. Challenges were many but she anyhow managed to set up her factory in a 3000 square feet area. She didn’t give up and overcame all the obstacles that came her way.
Expansion of the company
Kirans Company first started as an industrial enzyme manufacturer and began exporting to the United States and Europe. When the company had started making profits Kiran had enough money to buy a 20-acre plot. Soon Biocon became a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company. 1984 was an important year for the company as Kiran discovered some new dimensions. A research and development team was found at Biocon that focused on the discovery of novel techniques from the development of solid fermentation. The upcoming years were fortune too. The year 1987 brought with itself some new opportunities. Narayanan Vagal of ICICI ventures supported the creation of a venture capital fund of 250,000$ for the company. The company reached another landmark when it became the first Indian biotech company to receive US funding for proprietary technology in 1989. 1984 was also a significant year as Kiran looked forward to establishing a subsidiary of the company that came to be known as Syngene. It contributed research and development support services on a contractual basis.
Kiran Shaw’s support
A woman with a vision needs a man with a kind heart. Kiran met John Shaw at the headquarters of Madura Coats as the Managing Director and chairperson of the firm. John and Kiran thought of getting married after seven years of knowing each other. And the event coincided with an opportunity for Kiran’s Company to become fully independent and buy back its share from Unilever. Unfortunately, she lacked funding where John extended his full support to Kiran. At present, John is serving as the Vice President of Biocon and encourages Kiran in every possible way. John’s support helped Kiran to transform a small Biocon company into a big Biotech group.
Philanthropic activities.
Kiran cares about society and those in need. Her philanthropic efforts are reflected in the field of health care. She focuses on providing sustainable and affordable healthcare for marginalized communities. She had also invested $1.6million in two cancer curated startups and did a partnership with famous heart surgeon Dr. Devi Shetty and established 1400 bed Mazumdar Shaw cancer center in the hometown Bangalore. Her goal is to deliver inexpensive and world-class cancer care facilities to every patient regardless of their social and economic status. She also has a corporate social responsibility wing called Biocon foundation since the company’s inception it focuses on sustainable solutions to address the development changes in India. It also emphasizes education infrastructure and health in rural areas. Her philanthropic efforts are highly commendable as it is often claimed that her business and philanthropic goals are aligned very closely. Her business strategy is to develop affordable therapies for chronic disease.
Achievements and recognitions.
Kiran received her first-ever award from the National Institute of Marketing Management the institute awarded her the best woman entrepreneur award. In 19889 she was also awarded Padma Shri for pioneering biotechnology in India from the former president of India R Venkataraman. She was also honored with the woman of the year award from the International Women’s Association in 1999. Kiran Mazumdar is undoubtedly an inspiration for all. She showed her excellence to the nation and her contribution to India gained recognition when she received one of India’s highest civilian honors from honorary scientist and president of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. She also got featured on Time magazine 2020 list of 100 most influential people in the world, and the Forbes 2011 list of 100 most powerful women. She has been awarded Australia’s highest civilian honor the Order of Australia award for her significant service to advancing bilateral relationships with India in early 2020.
