DR.

KIRAN
MAZUMDAR
SHAW
 Early life
Career in brewery
Origin of BIOCON
Skepticism and discriminations
CONTENTS Richest woman in India
Achievement and recognition
Awards and recognition
BIOCON milestones and roadmap
Quote
EARLY LIFE
Kiran was born on 23rd March 1953 in Bangalore, India.
She completed her initial schooling from Bishop’s Cotton
Girl’s High School in 1968. She had aspired being a
doctor instead she ended up doing her BSc in Zoology
with Honors from Mount Carmel College of the Bangalore
University in 1973. As a child growing up in Bangalore,
India, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw was aware of her country’s
national pride in its contributions to chemistry and related
sciences. She was also well aware of cultural norms that
often limited the social mobility of women. Her father was
brewmaster at United Breweries. With her family’s
encouragement but some trepidation, Mazumdar-Shaw
attended Ballarat University in Australia.
CAREER IN
BREWERY
Kiran began her professional
career working as a trainee brewer
at Carlton & United Beverages. She
earned the title of master brewer.
After returning to India and facing
difficulties in getting a brewery
management position because of
her gender, Mazumdar-Shaw
turned to Europe. After deciding to
try her luck in Scotland, a chance
meeting with Leslie Auchincloss,
founder of the biotechnology
company Biocon Biochemicals,
changed her direction.
 In 1978, at the suggestion of Auchincloss, Mazumdar-
ORIGIN OF Shaw became managing director for Biocon
Biochemical Limited, India, the country’s leading
BIOCON biotechnology enterprise. From its first home in
Mazumdar-Shaw’s garage the industrial enzyme
business grew exponentially.
 Within a year Biocon had become the first Indian
company to export enzymes to the United States and
Europe, but progress was slowed as Mazumdar-Shaw
continued to face skepticism and discrimination. A
female entrepreneur was another rare idea for Indians
SKEPTICISM AND and one bringing in a completely new field was even
stranger. Nevertheless, the company had begun to turn
DISCRIMINATION a profit by the time Auchincloss sold his interest in
Biocon India to Unilever in 1989. Imperial Chemical
Industries bought Unilever’s stake in 1997 but
eventually agreed to sell its shares to Mazumdar-
Shaw’s husband, textile executive John Shaw, who
subsequently joined Biocon’s management team.
RICHEST WOMAN IN INDIA
In 2001 Biocon became the first Indian company to
gain the approval of the U.S. Food And Drug
Administration (FDA) for the manufacture of a
cholesterol-lowering molecule. The company
subsequently expanded exponentially. Profits
jumped more than 42 percent in 2003 alone. After
a wildly successful initial public stock offering the
following year, Biocon’s stock-market value
skyrocketed, and Mazumdar-Shaw, with a nearly
40-percent stake in the company, became the richest
woman in India.
 ACHIEVEMENTS AND
RECOGNITION
Named among Time’s 100 most influential people in the
world and Forbes’s 100 most powerful women in 2010,
Mazumdar-Shaw has made affordable innovation the
foundation of her business model. In 2012 the Economic
Times placed her second in India Inc.’s “Top 10 Most
Powerful Women CEOs,” and in 2006 Nature
Biotechnology voted her the most influential bio-
businessperson outside Europe and the United States. Her
vision and work for biotechnology have drawn global
recognition both for Indian industry and Biocon. She
received the the honorary Doctorate of Science (D.Sc.,
honoris causa), a coveted recognition from Presidency
University in the year 2019.
 1982: Best Woman Entrepreneur Award, National
Institute of Marketing Management, India.
1989: Padma Shri for pioneering biotechnology in
India from the then President of India, R Venkatraman.
2004: Honorary Doctorate of Science from Ballarat
AWARDS AND University Business and Woman of The Year Award by
The Economic Times.
RECOGNITION 2005: Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian
honours, from then President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul
Kalam.
2008: Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science from
the Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh and Honorary
Degree of Doctor of Science from the University of
Glasgow.
AWARDS AND 2014: Othmer Gold Medal by the Chemical Heritage
Foundation, Philadelphia, PA.

RECOGNITION 2017: Honoured with the prestigious ‘Women Leader

of the Decade Award’ under the India Pharma
Awards 2017.
 1978: Biocon India is incorporated as a joint venture
between Biocon Biochemicals Ltd. of Ireland and an
Indian entrepreneur, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw .
1979: Biocon is the first Indian company to
BIOCON manufacture and export enzymes to USA and Europe.
1989: Unilever plc. acquires Biocon Biochemicals Ltd.
MILESTONES in Ireland and merges it with its subsidiary, Quest
International.
AND ROADMAP 1996: The commercial success of Biocon's proprietary
fermentation plant leads to a 3-fold expansion .
Biocon leverages its technology platform to enter
biopharmaceuticals and statins.
 1997: Biocon spearheads initiatives in human
healthcare through a dedicated manufacturing facility.
1998: Unilever inks a deal with ICI to sell its specialty
chemicals division of which Quest International is a
part. Unilever agrees to sell its shareholding in Biocon
BIOCON to the Indian promoters. Biocon becomes an
independent entity.
MILESTONES 2000: Biocon commissions its first fully automated
AND ROADMAP submerged fermentation plant to produce specialty
pharmaceuticals.
2004: Biocon Limited, announced the launch of
INSUGEN®, the new generation bio-insulin,
manufactured in Asia's largest human insulin plant.
 2006: Biocon inaugurates Biocon Park, India's largest
integrated biotechnology hub and launches India's first
anti-cancer drug BIOMAb EGFR®.
2007: Biocon presents the results of Phase 1 studies on
its oral insulin product, IN-105 at the European
Association for Study of Diabetes (EASD) meeting held
BIOCON at Amsterdam.

MILESTONES 2008: Biocon is the 7th largest biotech employer in the

world.

AND ROADMAP 2009: Biocon launches BASALOG - long lasting basal

insulin for Type 1 & Type 2 Diabetics.
2011: Biocon launches INSUPen®, a convenient and
affordable reusable insulin delivery device

2013: Biocon Ranked at No. 6 among Top 20 Global

Biotech Employers
 BIOCON 2017: Biocon is the first Indian company to receive a
MILESTONES U.S. FDA approval for a biosimilar.

AND ROADMAP 2018: Biocon is first Company from India to

commercialize a biosimilar in the U.S.
 "AS YOU BECOME MORE
SUCCESSFUL, THE GENDER BARRIER
DISAPPEARS. THE CREDIBILITY
CHALLENGES YOU HAVE DURING
YOUR GROWING UP YEARS STARTS
DISAPPEARING WHEN YOU START
DEMONSTRATING SUCCESS.
"
D R . K I R A N M A Z U M DA R S H AW