Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is an Indian entrepreneur. She is the Chairman & Managing Director of
Biocon Ltd, India's biggest biotechnology company. In 2004, she became India's richest woman.

she was born in Bangalore, and educated at the Bishop Cotton Girls School and Mount Carmel
College at Bangalore. After completing her Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from
Bangalore University in 1973, she went to Ballarat Institute of Advanced Education (now
University of Ballarat), Australia to study brewing and qualified as a master brewer in 1974.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw started her professional career as trainee brewer in Carlton & United
Beverages in 1974. In 1978, she joined as a Trainee Manager with Biocon Biochemicals Limited
in Ireland

Collaborating with the same Irish firm, she founded Biocon India with a capital of Rs. 10,000/-
in 1978. The initial operation was to extract an enzyme from papaya. Her application for loans
was turned down by banks on two counts – biotechnology was then a new word and the
company lacked assets. Over the years, the company grew under her stewardship and is today the
biggest biopharmaceutical firm in India. In 2004, Biocon went for an IPO and the issue was
over-subscribed by over 30 times. Post-IPO, Shaw held close to 40% of the stock of the company
and was regarded as India’s richest woman with an estimated worth of Rs. 2,100 crore (~U.S. $
480 million).

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is the recipient of several prestigious awards. These include ET
Businesswoman of the Year, Best Woman Entrepreneur, Model Employer, Ernst & Young's
Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Life Sciences & Healthcare, Leading Exporter, Outstanding
Citizen, Technology Pioneer, etc. Government of India also felicitated her with Padmashri
(1989) and Padma Bhushan (2005).