Organization: Biocon
Achievement: This company was founded by Shaw in her garage which later turned to become the 7th largest biotech employer in the world and India’s first and No. 1 biotech company with a global ranking of 16.
She has been referred to as “India’s Biotech Queen” by The Economist and “India’s mother of invention” by ‘New York Times’. There are no points for guessing. Yes, indeed we are talking about Dr Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the CMD of Biocon, India’s premier biotech company. Today, Biocon is the largest manufacturer of industrial enzymes, registering a turnover of Rs 912 crore in the fiscal 2007-2008.
Always wanting to become a doctor, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw had never dreamt of becoming an entrepreneur. But destiny had other plans for her. After failing to secure a seat in medicine, she was forced to do her honars in Zoology from Bangalore University. Influenced by her father, who was a brewer, she went on to do her Master’s degree in fermentation technology from Ballarat University in Melbourne, and became India’s first woman brewmaster.
After a stint as a trainee brewer in Carlton & United Beverages in 1974, she joined Biocon Biochemicals Ltd. In Ireland as trainee manager in 1978. It was in the same year that she established Biocon in collaboration with Biocon BioChemicals Ltd. Initially, all Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw had was Rs 1 lakh in cash to invest and, of course, strong determination to make it big in the brewing industry. She initially faced hurdles finding funds for her start-up as banks were reluctant to fund a venture in the nascent biotechnology field. “When I started Biocon, no one had heard of biotechnology. Banks and financial institutions were wary of funding an inexperienced woman. But my unswerving faith in myself and perseverance made all the difference,” recollects Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.
Overcoming the initial hiccups, Biocon made a humble beginning from Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw’s garage in Bangalore. It started off with the extraction of an enzyme from papaya. Years down the line, the company rose to the status of an integrated biopharmaceutical company with strategic research initiatives. It was during this transition that Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw established two subsidiaries, Syngene (1994) to provide development support services for discovery research and Clinigene (2000) to cater for services in clinical development. Currently, Biocon’s biopharmaceuticals business accounts for about 75 per cent share of its total business.
“Our ability to scale continuously new heights across the biopharmaceutical value chain enables us to realize the promise of future therapeutics,” says Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw. She believes innovation is the need for the day and R&D is the prime source for it. Biocon’s product basket comprises products in diabetology, oncology, cardiology and other therapeutic segments.
In March 2004, Biocon created a buzz in the stock market with its IPO. The first day on the bourses closed with a market value of $1.11 billion, making Biocon only the second Indian company to cross the $1 billion-mark on the first day of listing. Post-IPO, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw held close to 40 per cent of the stock of the company and was regarded as India’s richest woman with an estimated worth of Rs 2,100 crore.
Med Ad News, a leading US trade publication, in its 2007 listings, has ranked Biocon the 20th amongst the leading biotechnology companies in the world and the 7th largest biotech employer globally.
Kiran has many success stories to her credit.
She has played a vital role in formulating a biotechnology policy for Karnataka. She chairs Karnataka’s Vision Group on Biotechnology. Kiran, who gives half of the annual dividends she earns to charities, has donated more than $10 million directly to projects aimed at providing drugs and healthcare to India’s poor. She has also teamed up with noted cardiac surgeon Dr Devi Shetty to launch a micro health-insurance programme for the rural poor, which includes opening four “health cities,” or multi-speciality hospitals.
In the recent past, Biocon has expanded to the Middle East. It has set up a marketing company called Neo- Biocon in association with Dr Shetty’ s Research Laboratories, and is in the process of registering its products in that territory.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is the recipient of several prestigious awards including the ET Businesswoman of the Year, Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Life Sciences & Healthcare, Technology Pioneer, etc. Her most cherished awards are the national awards, Padma Shri (1989) and Padma Bhushan (2005) presented to her by the President of India, for her pioneering efforts in industrial biotechnology.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is among the 48 Asians to feature in Forbes magazine’s list of Asia’s top philanthropists. She has been recently voted by Nature Biotechnology as the Most Influential in Biobusiness Person outside Europe and the US. She has also been awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Abertay, Dundee, UK (2007), University of Glasgow, UK (2008) and Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK (2008).
A connoisseur of art, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw takes out time from her busy schedule to visit art galleries and exhibitions. As a member of the Board of Trustees of Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath and Chairman of All India Art Exhibition, she is involved in conducting artists’ camps and exhibitions all over the country.
She believes that industries like biotechnology, which are becoming very important, have a role to play in shaping the destiny of our country. A role model to many aspiring entrepreneurs, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has these words for people: “If I can do it, anyone can.”