An Indian billionaire entrepreneur who amazed the world with her success story and became inspiration for numerous aspiring women entrepreneurs, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw stands apart from other business women of India. Her inspirational journey as one of the leading business ladies of the bio-tech sector has been applauded by many industry stalwarts. A woman of vision, Kiran built her own fortune from scratch and become a self-made billionaire who values hard work, persistence, and perseverance. Breaking all the barriers, Kiran worked hard to achieve her goals and has been successful in becoming the chairperson and managing director of one of the leading biopharmaceutical companies in the world, Biocon Limited.

With an aim to help the rising entrepreneurs to draw inspiration from, this article focuses on Kiran’s journey and her rise to become the queen of Bio-Tech industry of India.

Early days

Born on 23^rd March 1953 in Bangalore, India, Kiran completed her schooling from Bishop’s Cotton Girl’s High School in 1968. Passionate about becoming a doctor, Kiran holds a degree in BSc, Zoology with Honors from Mount Carmel College of the Bangalore University in 1973. Post two years, Kiran finished her post graduate studies from Ballarat College, Melbourne University, successfully qualifying as a master brewer.

Professional Journey

All set to plunge into the professional world, Kiran had made up her mind to enter into the brewing segment. To acquire knowledge and gain profound insights of the brewing world, Kiran not only commenced as a trainee in Carlton and United Breweries in 1974 but also took training at Barrett Brothers and Burston in Australia as a maltster. After coming back to India, Kiran joined Jupiter Breweries Limited in Calcutta as a Technical Consultant before switching her role as a Technical Manager at Standard Maltings Corporation in Baroda.

Inception of Biocon

In the mid-70s, founder of Ireland-based Biocon Biochemicals, Leslie Auchincloss was in search for an Indian entrepreneur who could help him launching an Indian subsidiary. Joining hands with the company, Kiran seized this opportunity and this decision of her changed the course of her entire career. Under the guidance of Leslie, Kiran was trained to become a manager at his company in Ireland and gradually comprehended the revenue model of the company. Coming back home, she borrowed a garage space in Bangalore by investing only Rupees 10,000 only and laid the foundation of Biocon in India.

Challenges

Funds was one of the foremost challenges for Kiran because all the banks she turned to were quite hesitant. Biotechnology was not a familiar concept in India back then and at that time gender was an important aspect because everyone had their share of doubts about a female entrepreneur. Since a female entrepreneur was quite a rare notion for Indians and one making her path in a completely new domain was even stranger. She even had trouble recruiting people to work for her and amidst all this she never lost hope.

Expansion of Biocon

Not discouraged from this lack of support, Kiran worked hard with whatever she had to build a company that has now emerged as one of the leading firms of the biotech sector. When Biocon got an IPO in 2004, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw became the richest business woman in India and made more than 2000 high value R&D licensing deals from 2005 to 2010. Not only she helped Biocon to achieve global recognition and develop markets by acquisitions, in-licensing and partnerships but the company was ranked by Med Ad News as one of the leading biotech companies in the world in 2007. Responsible for Biocon’s innovative abilities, worldwide reliability and global scale in marketing and manufacturing activities, Biocon rose to become the 7^th biggest biotechnology employer in the world.

Awards and Recognitions

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has received numerous accolades for her entrepreneurial achievements including the ‘Veuve Clicquot Initiative for Economic Development for Asia, ‘Businesswoman of the Year’ by the Economic Times in 2004, the prestigious Nikkei Asia Prize for Regional Growth and Express Pharmaceutical Leadership Summit Award for Dynamic Entrepreneur in 2009, Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Life Sciences & Healthcare in 2002, and so on. Ranked number 80 on Forbes list of 100 most powerful women -2012, some of Kiran’s other awards include the ‘Corporate Leadership Award’, honorary doctorates from Ballarat University, University of Abertay, University of Glasgow, Dundee and Heriot-Watt University and more.