Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is the face of the biotechnology sector in India today.

A wealthiest
and a self made businesswoman, she founded and runs the biotech firm, Biocon as a
chairperson, which makes reasonably priced drugs for everybody. Mrs Shaw is on the
Forbes list of the worlds 100 most powerful women and the Financial times top 50 women
in Business list.
Initially, she faced credibilty challenges because of her youth, gender and her untested
business model. Not only was funding a problem as no bank wanted to lend to her, but she
also found it difficult to recruit people for her start-up. With single-minded fortitude she
triumphed over these disputes only to meet them head on with the technological challenges
associated with trying to build a biotech business in a country facing infrastructural woes.
Uninterrupted power, superior quality water, sterile labs, imported research equipment,
and advanced scientific skills were not easily available in India during the time.
She is responsible for steering Biocon on a path of growth and innovation over the years.
Within a year of its commencement, Biocon became the first Indian company to
manufacture and export enzymes to USA and Europe. In 1989, Biocon became the first
Indian biotech company to receive US funding for proprietary technologies. In 1990, she
upgraded Biocon's in-house research program, based on a proprietary solid substrate
fermentation technology.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is a firm believer that there can never be finite goals achieving one
set of goals results in new set of goals. She has always applied her scientific background in
order to attend to business opportunities, a vital component in a sector like Biotechnology.
Her ground-breaking work in the sector has paid her several accolades and awards.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is one of the many pre-eminent people interviewed in an upcoming
film Carve your Destiny, by an Indian filmmaker Anubhav Srivastava. This film aims to throw
light on how to become successful in life with the help of detailed interviews conducted by
the filmmaker with real life achievers belonging to diverse fields and cultures