Kalpana Saroj

r s
e u
e n
p r
t re
E n
e n
o m
W
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
Introduction

Kalpana Saroj is a female

entrepreneur and a TEDx
speaker. She is the Chairperson
Kamani Tubes in Mumbai, India.
Apart from Kamani Tubes she
also heads Kamani Steels, K.S.
Creations, Kalpana Builder and
Developers, and Kalpana
Associates. Currently she has
personal assets worth $112
million and she is known as first
women entrepreneur of India.
 Early life

Saroj was born into a Dalit family in 1961 in Roperkheda village in, Maharashtra, India. Although she was a bright
student who loved school, she regularly faced social discrimination at school, even by the faculty. She studied up to the
seventh grade, only because her father was obstinate that she must at least be a ‘matriculate.’ Her father’s refusal to
get her married was drowned out by the clamour and clangour of the extended family – people who placed little to no
worth in the life of a little girl. At the age of 12, Kalpana was married to a man 10 years older than she was and had to
migrate to the slums of Mumbai.
She was starved and heaped with emotional and physical abuse. Her father immediately decided to take her back and,
and re-join school. But the taunts and hate against her was never-ending.
 Turning point

Unable to face the antagonism of the villagers to her attempts to become independent,
she attempted suicide. Thankfully, her aunt walked in just in time and promptly took her
to the hospital. After battling for her life for 24 hours, she regained consciousness. But
when she opened her eyes in the hospital room, she was no longer the naïve helpless girl
the world had deemed too worthless to exist. Having been given a second chance at life,
she felt strong and empowered. She moved to Mumbai, where she stayed with an uncle
and committed to her tailoring gig full time. A little while later, her father rented a small
room for her family. Amidst this, her youngest sister fell ill. Money was scarce and they
could not afford her treatment and she died in Saroj’s arms. That’s when she realized the
importance of money and her purpose in life changed overnight—earning enough money
and helping those in despair.
A Humble beginning

With a small seed fund of Rs. 50,000 that she aquired from Mahatma Jyotiba Phule
scheme that offered entrepreneurial loans, she started a furniture business and
began earning Rs. 1,000 a day. She put in 16-17 hours of work every day and within
she 2 years, she paid off her loan. She learnt everything about being an
entrepreneur from the ground up through this business – sourcing raw materials,
negotiating, identifying market trends and, above all, holding her ground.
Moved by the appalling conditions of the unemployed, she took it upon herself to
create an organisation – Sushikshit Berozgar Yuvak Sanghatana, to cater to the
needs of these unemployed people. Loans worth almost Rs. 40 million were
distributed. The recipients opened salons, idol-making units, boutiques, and such.
Owing to her relentless good work, she earned the epithet ‘tai’ (‘older sister’ in
Marathi).
Seizing opportunity

Saroj ‘begged, borrowed and stole’ funds to buy a litigation locked land that was
offered to her for a pittance and then threw herself into legal formalities. Two
years later, she successfully got her property cleared up and started working
towards developing the land.
Kohinoor Plaza was constructed in 1999, and earned her Rs. 40-45 million in profit.
She invested some of it in a sugar mill in Deodaithan village. She also few more
projects, mainly residential apartments in Kalyan and Ulhasnagar. With her
thriving furniture and real estate business, tales of ‘tai’s’ entrepreneurial spirit
had already become legends, but the best was yet to come.
 Kamani Tubes

Kamani Tubes, a company manufacturing and supplying copper tubes, rods and
LED lights and more, had suffered many losses and litigations over the years.
The workers of the company came to Saroj in 1999 after which she formed a 10-
member team, which included marketing people, finance people, bank directors,
lawyers, and government consultants and with a lot of efforts took over the
company as Chairperson in 2006. Between 2000 and 2006, she met the then state
finance minister and all those who had given loans to Kamani. Her efforts
resulted in the banks agreeing to waive the penalties, interest, and also 24 per
cent from the principal amount to help her revive the company.
Kamani Tubes is now a profitable company, with a profit of Rs 5 crore every year.
Conclusion

• In the year 2013, she was awarded the Padma Shri for her
contributions to Trade and Industry.
• From the society’s labels – Dalit; a school drop-out; child-bride;
slum dweller; suicide survivor, to be widely acclaimed as the
first female corporate entrepreneur of independent India.
• From being forced to drop out of school to marry at the age of
12 to resurrecting a dying company into a $112 million empire,
the ‘rags to riches’ story of Kalpana Saroj, is an inspiration to
young female entrepreneurs throughout the world.
Kalpana Saroj

Her success story is a testimony

to her words, “Ivy League
degrees and fancy MBAs are not
what make an entrepreneur.
Grit, perseverance and a
superhuman ability to have faith
in yourself does.”
-Kalpana Saroj
Kiran Mazumdar-
Shaw
“If I can build a company like
Biocon anyone can….the first
step was to dream however big
or small..If you have a vision big
or small, al plan no matter if its
imperfect, but if there is passion
and conviction for it success is
inevitable”

-Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, MD
Biocon
 Life

Kiran was born on March 23, 1953 and brought up in Bangalore in the state of
Karnataka, India. She hailed from a family, which encouraged her to pursue
higher education. Went to Ballarat College in Melbourne, Australia, to
specialize in Malting and Brewing Technology to become India's first woman
brewmaster. Kiran went abroad and found a job in the UK.
There she met Leslie Auchincloss, owner of an Ireland-based company. Kiran
Mazumdar Shaw started her professional career as trainee brewer in Carlton
& United Beverages in 1974.
Entrepreneurial
journey

In 1978, she joined as Trainee Manager with Biocon Biochemicals Limited in

Ireland.
In the funds for her business. Banks were hesitant to give loan to her.
In the same year, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw founded Biocon India in
collaboration with Biocon Biochemicals Limited, with a capital of Rs.10,000.
She initially faced many problems regarding funds for her business.
About her Company
"Biocon Limited"

• Global Pharmaceutical company that believes everyone has a right to

affordable healthcare products and good quality medicines.
• The company has paved the way for biotechnology in India and is
advancing in it for more than 40 years with an aim to provide everyone
everywhere affordable access to life saving therapies.
• Company's therapeutic areas include Oncology, Diabetes, and
immunology. The company is also focused in providing works class
Cancer care therapies that improve patients lives across the globe. In the
field of immunology, it delivers innovative therapy for patients suffering
from auto immune diseases.
Achievements And
Recognitions

• Received her first ever award from the National Institute of Marketing
Management.
• In 1989, awarded Padmashree
• Was also honoured with the woman award from the International Women's
association in 1999.
• Received India's highest civilian awards from honorary scientist and president
of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.
• Also got featured in TIME Magazine in 2010 list of 100 most influential people
in the world and Forbes 2011 list of 100 most powerful women.
• She has been awarded Australia's highest civilian honor THE ORDER OF
AUSTRALIA Award
Philanthropic
Activities

• She is a philanthropist. She wants to bring a change. She believes that those
persons who are very fortunate to really effect change should do it.
• Kiran cares about society and her philanthropic efforts are reflected in the
field of healthcare.
• She focuses on providing sustainable and affordable healthcare for the
marginalised communities.
• Her goal is to deliver inexpensive and World class Cancer Care Facilities to
every patient regardless of their social and economic status.
• She also has a corporate Social Responsibility Wing called Biocon Foundation
since the company's inception.
Her interviews

• According to her, we need to see more women in the business world. There are just a few of
women and she thinks we need to populate the business landscape with more women,
because we do need gender diversity to really make a difference to the way that business is
going to grow in this country.
• She always believed that to be successful as an entrepreneur , you have to be absolutely
passionate about solving a problem that really bugs you. So, she wants to gives the message
to all the budding entrepreneurs that try and fix a problem and then you can solve it . And
that's a good recipe for success.
• Her late father always told her that money is not a currency to buy favours with, but a
currency with which you can make a difference and she holds that principle very close to her
heart even today. Wealth is about making a difference and that's why she's philanthropic.
• She was always told that women are not capable of running a business. Women are not risk
takers. She was always told that men were far more determined and confident and decisive.
None of which is true. She thinks she really busted each one of those myths.
THANK YOU