BIOCON FOUNDER: SUCCESS STORY OF KIRAN MAZUMDAR SHAW

Business mogul Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw hails from India. She is the head of Biocon Limited, an Indian multinational corporation, and one of the wealthiest women in India. Biocon is at the forefront of clinical research. Besides leading IIM Bangalore, she also served as its chairperson. January 2020 finds Kiran Mazumdar with $1.3 billion.
Among 2019’s most influential women, she was #65 on Forbes’s list. In this capacity, she serves on the board of governors at the Indian School of Business. After graduating from IIT, she joined the board of governors of IIT Hyderabad.
Kiran will serve on the MIT board until 2023. She serves as a director for Infosys on her own time. She now serves on the General Body of the Maharashtra State Innovation Society. She is the first female to serve as the board chair of IIM Bangalore.

The Early Life

The Mazumdar’s were Gujaratis who settled in Pune, Maharashtra, where Kiran was born. She received her education at the Bishop Cotton Girls’ High School in Bangalore. Mount Carmel College of Bangalore was where she studied. Back in 1973, she earned her zoology degree from Bangalore University. Because of a scholarship, she was unable to enroll in medical school.
Kiran’s interest in learning began at a young age. Her dad was the CEO of United Breweries. He strongly urged her to be major in fermentation science to become a brewmaster. Mazumdar attended Melbourne University with the help of her father to study malting and brewing. She was the best student in the class and the only female. She graduated from brew school in 1975.
She started as a brewer’s apprentice at Carlton and United Breweries. The Australian firm Barret Brothers and Burston took her on as a trainee master. Afterward, she worked as a trainee consultant for Jupiter Breweries in Kolkata and as a technical manager for Standard Maltings in Baroda.
Bangalore or Delhi were the sites of her future career aspirations. Since she was a woman working in a traditionally male-dominated field, she faced discrimination. She overcame her skepticism and doubted securing a job in Scotland. BIOCON FOUNDER: SUCCESS STORY OF KIRAN MAZUMDAR SHAW

A New Star Is Born: Kiran Mazumdar

She met Leslie Auchincloss, an Irish businessman with plans to open a branch in India. His initiative birthed the Biocon Biochemicals corporation. The use of enzymes in the brewing, textile, and food packaging industries.
If a similar position opened up, Kiran would probably take it. After meeting a fellow entrepreneur, she found herself in a position to start her own business by chance.
The two of them worked together to produce enzymes. Biotechnology is on the rise, according to Mazumdar. She mentioned that the fermentation procedure for both enzymes and beer was the same.
She founded Biocon in a Bengaluru garage with a little Rs. Since foreign ownership was restricted to 30% by law in India, Mazumdar controlled 70% of the company. She ended up being a drugmaker. Money made from enzymes was used to develop and produce medicines.
She said she had to switch to a revenue model for her business because of India’s poor access to venture finance. She struggled to make ends meet because of sexism and her company’s business plan problems. She was unable to get a loan from a financial institution.
Her initial financial support came from a banker she met at a social event. A garage mechanic was her first hire, and the 3-acre shed served as her first factory. Within a year, Biocon India pioneered the export of enzymes from India to the United States and Europe.
She invested in a 20-acre plot by year’s end to expand her operations. As CEO, she oversaw Biocon’s transition from enzyme production to biopharmaceutical research and development in diabetes, cancer, and autoimmune disorders.
Quickly after, she established Syngene and Clinigene. Syngene outsources its preliminary research and development. Clinigene does clinical research and creates both new and generic pharmaceuticals. Syngene purchased Clinicigene. Both the BSE and the NSE listed it in 2015. The total value of the merger is Rs. 14.170 billion.
Kiran’s fiance, John Shaw, spent $2 million to acquire all ICI’s outstanding shares in Biocon following the company’s 1997 sale to Unilever. Their wedding took place in 1998. When Biocon was founded in 2001, Shaw departed Madura Coats to take on the role of vice chairman.
It was in 2004 that Narayan Murthy proposed Kiran list Biocon. She hoped that by doing so, she might help Biocon’s research efforts receive funding. There were 33 times as many investors as there were shares available for the IPO of Biocon. The first day’s volume was worth $1.1 billion. India’s second company will reach $1 billion on its first trading day.

BIOCON FOUNDER: SUCCESS STORY OF KIRAN MAZUMDAR SHAW

Conclusion

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw demonstrates that women can succeed in any field. Recognizing women’s potential and aptitude is crucial.