Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is Chairperson and Managing Director of Biocon Limited, a

biotechnology company based in Bangalore, India.

Kiran is highly respected in the corporate world and has been named among TIME magazines
100 most influential people in the world. The Economic Times placed her at India Inc.s top 10
most powerful women CEOs for the year 2012. Her pioneering efforts in biotechnology have
drawn global recognition for both the Indian industry and Biocon.
Kiran holds a bachelors degree in Zoology from Bangalore University, India, and is qualified as
a Master Brewer from Ballarat University, Australia. She has also received many honorary
doctorates in recognition of her pre-eminent contributions to the field of biotechnology.

When Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw founded Biocon in 1978, it was a small

industrial-enzymes company. Now Biocon is India's largest publicly traded
biopharmaceutical company, which had $460 billion in revenue last year and
distributes its products in 85 countries around the world. In 2014, MazumdarShaw won the Chemical Heritage Foundation's Othmer Gold Medal for
contributions to science through entrepreneurship, as well as Germany's Keihl
Institute Global Economy Prize for achievements in business.Mazumdar-Shaw
also runs philanthropic initiatives through the Biocon Foundation and
founded a 1,400-bed cancer center in Bangalore in 2009. The facility is
dedicated to providing care to all patients, regardless of income level or social
standing.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw on Forbes Lists

#85 Power Women (2015)

#92 in 2014

#1741 Billionaires (2015)

#87 in India

#81 India's Richest (2014)

Founder-chair, Biocon Ltd.

Age
62
Source Of Wealth

biotechnology, Self Made

Residence
Bangalore, India
Number of Family Members
2
Citizenship
India
Marital Status
Married
Education
Bachelor of Arts / Science, Bangalore University; Master of Science, Melbourne
Universit

I remember my mother telling me, grow up to become as

graceful, self reliant and successful like Kiran Mazumdar
Shaw. For my mother, me and millions out there in India, Kiran is a
role model in true sense. She has created a place for herself in an
industry which was not known to have women leaders. What she
had was sheer will, a spirit of daring and a dream to make a
difference. And, she has done it all.
I lapped up the chance to meet her at her office recently, and what
followed was a heartfelt conversation with a lady who impresses so
much more in person. She is jovial, fun and purposeful all rolled into
one.
Please read this interview and find your own meanings as I found
mine. This is the first part of our conversation (it went on for more
than an hour) and I will come out with more nuggets of wisdom from
her shortly.
YS: Youve accomplished so much on your own. At this stage
of your life, would you say there is a sense of completeness
or is there still a sense of, you know, anxiety and hunger
that a lot remains to be done? What is that sense that you
have right now in life?

Kiran: No entrepreneur feels that they have come to the end of the
road. I think an entrepreneurs life is always a continuous journey.
And, its really about milestones, rather than, you know, having a
final destination. And I think as an entrepreneur we know that. We
set off on a path not knowing where it will lead us.And therefore, we
realise its a voyage of discovery. This voyage of discovery is a very
exciting voyage, because it takes us to unknown destinations and
makes new paths for us. So, thats the journey of all us
entrepreneurs.
I think Im no different. I started of my entrepreneurial
journey quite by chance. In 1978, when I found that I could not
pursue my dream of becoming a brew master and managing a
brewery, I said okay then, what else can I do, and then I accidentally
started this business. I said okay, its biotech, biotech is definitely
linked to brewing, this is an exciting area. I do not know anything
about starting a business, because Ive never run a business. But its
a voyage of discovery. Let me discover what this business journey is
all about.

Kiran at work in Biocon

Thats how I took the plunge. I started with making industrial

enzymes, and a lot of those enzymes were actually designed for
brewing. I was quite familiar with that piece. Thats what gave me
my raison detre and this sense that I am still connected with
brewing. So, my business also has a connection with the area, which
I am very familiar with. I think most entrepreneurs will start a
business they feel they have some familiarity with, some
understanding, because I dont think entrepreneurs start a business
without having a clue of what theyre doing. I think it is extremely
important that entrepreneurs have a deep-rooted interest in

what they are doing, and should have a good understanding

of what they are building. I was very excited to do something
that was path breaking. It was a pioneering industry, and I was a
pioneer because I had nobody to follow (laughs). I had none to show
me the way. Or, tell me what to do with this business.
YS: Today you are showing the way to so many. I remember
in my college days we were told about you and how we
should take your example and do something meaningful with
our lives.
Kiran: Looking back, I feel, yes, it was very courageous in a way
because I had no idea what I was getting into. I feel entrepreneurs
are also, you know, people with guts, people who take risks, people
who do not want everything laid out for them. Youre willing to
struggle, youre willing to take up a challenge, but its with a sense
of purpose; my sense of purpose that time was to prove myself as a
manager. People told me, no we cant give you a job as a brewer,
youre a woman. I was very determined to show that a woman can
manage a business. Any business.

That was my sense of challenge, and my sense of purpose was

about developing these enzymes and building a business out of
biotechnology. You have to have a spirit of challenge as an
entrepreneur. Something should drive you. So whether its a
Flipkart, a Biocon or an Infosys,
something has to drive you, that has to give you a sense of
purpose and a spirit of challenge.
My spirit of challenge was that nobody had thought of building a
business based on biotech. I am going to show this is possible. I am
going to show that women can run businesses and can manage
businesses. And my sense of purpose was, Oh! this sounds
fascinating. You know, it was about greening businesses. That was a
very new concept. Saying how do we replace chemical technologies
with enzyme technologies, and green the world. And that was my
sense of purpose when I started.

Its like when Infosys started. They had the sense of purpose which
was really about starting a software services company. And they had
the Y2K challenge. They said no lets show that we techies, we first
generation entrepreneurs, can actually create a business out of this.
Everyone has a sense of purpose, a spirit of challenge. And as you
start building your business, obviously its a voyage of discovery,
you basically learn how to deal with the problems, you learn how to
solve problems, you learn how to deal with business issues, with
regulatory issues, all these things are very alien to you when you
get into building a business. Then you realize there is a formal
process. It is not just doing something in an ad hoc way. There is a
rationale to what you have to do. There is a strategy to what you do
and so you slowly, sort of, learn on the job.

Foundation stone ceremony for Biocon

YS: Did you always know that you wanted to make

something large, something big?
Kiran: Well, in the beginning you dont think about those things,
some people do, but I didnt. My job was just to be successful in
what I was doing. I had no business background. A lot of people
come with a business background, so their understanding of rolling
and managing and establishing a business is very different from
someone like me, who was an absolute novice. I had no business
background, no business experience and I had never worked for a
company where I had learnt business processes or had an
understanding of what business processes are about. So, I literally

reinvented the wheel, I had to basically create my own learnings. I

had to learn on the jobs so to speak.
YS: Did you feel lonely?
Kiran: No, I didnt. Because when you have the spirit of
challenge you never feel lonely. Youre young, you know you
have a lot of spirit in you, you want to get things done, and youre
willing to roll up your sleeves. I was willing to do anything, I was
fearless. When I started my company, I didnt have that kind of
money, so I would travel the length and breadth of India in a train or
on a bus. I couldnt afford a plane ticket. I would go to all kinds of
places using the most frugal ways to travel. I remember my parents
would get worried: youre a single girl, youre going on your own to
all parts of India, to factories etc. Those were very difficult times in
Punjab with the Akali Dal etc. And yet I used to go on my own. I used
to jump into a bus. Most of my travel used to take me to the north
those days as a lot of business opportunities were there. I didnt
care, I was on a purpose and hence fearless. Very often in those
buses, I would be the only woman. There would be all these guys
staring at me, but the bus driver would be very concerned about me
and he would say, Aap kahan ja rahi hai madam? and I would say,
Mujhe woh Jagatjit industry pahunchaneka hai, and that poor chap
would stop the bus in front of the gate and say, you get down here. I
did not have money and it was fun to slog it out.

Kiran with her

family

YS: What has been the influence of your parents in shaping

you to be the fearless person you are?
Kiran: My parents had a great influence on me. My father was a man
ahead of his times. He would say to me just because you are my
daughter doesnt mean you shouldnt have an aspiration to pursue a
career. In fact, I want you to pursue a career.
He was also a brew master and he wanted one of his children to be
a brewer so he said, you do it. And I was like but I am a woman. And
he said, why shouldnt you? Its all in your mind. You can be a very
good brew master. He had that kind of faith in me. My father also
taught me a lot of good values. He used to say, Ill tell you
something, there is good in every human being, and if youre a good
manager you bring out the goodness in people. A good manager is
someone who brings out the good in everyone. And its for you as a
manager to actually bring out that goodness. I always thought that
was such a telling a piece of advice.

Kiran with her parents

He also instilled high ethical values in me. He used to say, There is

no point in taking shortcuts, there is a good way of doing business
and a not so good way of doing business. And I want my daughter to
run her business in an honest way. And I want my children to have a
very high sense of integrity in society.

Kiran with her parents as a child

My mother was always there for me. She believed in the same
values as my father. She believes in self-reliance. After my father
passed away, my mother started her own venture to keep herself
mentally engaged positively (she had never worked previously and
was a homemaker). She runs her own business even at the age of
82. She said one day to me, You know I read that Alzheimers and
Dementia happen to people who dont keep their minds engaged
and I want to keep myself really busy, and if I run a business, it will
keep me fully engaged. (Laughs
fondly.)
(We will bring you the story of Kirans mother shortly, she
runs an automatic laundry business, Jeeves)
YS: Being a woman in business, successful entrepreneur and
role model, what has it been from a gender lens? What

would you tell all the upcoming women professionals out

there?
Kiran: When I went to Australia to do my brewing course I was on my
own. I was the only women in my class. That was a very
transformative time for me because I suddenly realized that I could
stand on my own. I could basically match one for one with men and
with my male colleagues. I topped the class even though the others
had a lot of experience they had all come from breweries. It
taught me that being a woman does not have to be a handicap or a
disadvantage. Being a woman has actually helped me gain
confidence.
I always tell women, its all in your mind. Why should you feel that
because you are a woman you cant do certain things? What cant
you do? Please tell me.
What I think you have to learn (and many of us out there) to do is to
basically almost turn a deaf ear to criticism that makes you feel
different, that makes you feel that because youre a woman youll
have problems. I learnt to do this early on. I found myself in a
position that I was technically very competent at, so it gave me a lot
of confidence. When I would go to breweries and I had to do
business with brewers and technical people, I could speak their
language. And I could actually have a very engaging conversation
with them, and I knew that quite a lot of the times, I had an upper
hand because their technical knowledge was not as good as mine. I
worked on my strengths. Work on your strengths and take
advantage of it.

I always say that as a woman if they treat you like, poor thing, you
need help, then take the help (laughs). You may not need it, but take
it. I remember I used to take full advantage in the government
offices. I used to go to the government offices for licenses. I
remember going to a senior bureaucrat and telling him, you know
Im feeling very intimidated. Why? he asked. I replied, When Im
sitting in your corridor waiting for you to call me in, some of these
real new fixers and all come and tell me, you have to bribe to get
this permission. My God, Im getting quite scared, if I have to bribe
then I dont know whether I should run a business. The bureaucrat
said, No, no, nodont believe anybody, you dont have to bribe. I
said, Oh great, Im so happy then! He said, Now dont sit in the
corridor, from now you sit inside my room. Dont let people bug you.
No, you dont have to bribe at all.
And the best part is that there are really good government people
and folks out there. We just need to learn to see it constantly. You
think everyone is bad, but its not like that. I would say the majority
of government people are very helpful, very good also. And I still
remember, when I got my approvals, this poor chap sent me a
telegram saying congratulations, weve approved your company
licence.

Kiran at Biocon construction site

Similarly, in Bangalore every time I used to go to the industries, the

secretarys office, there would be a whole bunch of people, but I
would always be asked first because I used to be the only woman
there. Its a great advantage being a woman. We just need to see it
differently.
And I never had to bribe. I would get all my stuff done. My male
colleagues would be like, we are very envious of you and its not
fair, you never have to pay a bribe and we have to. Once they told
me, oh this fellow, hes a real corrupt guy, I challenge you, let me

see how you will get away without paying this guy a bribe. He
demands at least 10% cut of the subsidy otherwise he will not even
give you the cheque. And I would walk in and get the cheque
without doing anything. The guys would tell me, this is not fair, how
come he gives it to you and not us. and I remember replying, yeah
because Im a woman. He has no guts to ask me for bribe. But Ill
tell you the real reason, I said. I go personally and do all this work,
you guys send your peons, your clerks, your subordinates. It serves
you right. The moment you send in your subordinate, they will ask
for money. But when you go on your own, who will ask you for
money. Thats a very important lesson that I taught myself and I am
sharing it with you; if you want things done, do it yourself.
My father also taught me one more thing, he said, when you ask for
certain things from the government, dont do it with a vested
interest for yourself, do it with a vested interest for the entire sector.
I have learnt to do that, and today whenever I talk to the
government, either the state government or central government, I
dont go and say Biocon needs you. Maybe some of it Biocon doesnt
even need, but I talk for the industry because I want the industry to
grow.
Embrace this mindset of growth for all and see how growth
embraces you in abundance.
In a way, I fully subscribe to what Prime Minister Narendra Modi is
doing in terms of dealing with crony capitalism. Ive always had a lot
of, you know, skepticism for this close nexus between industry and
government. Ive seen too much, where industry is constantly trying
to corrupt the government to get a few freebies for themselves. I
think thats wrong. I believe you have to do it for the whole sector so

that whatever youre asking for, let everybody benefit, not just
you. Although a lot of people might say Kiran is stupid, she
doesnt realize how business works, but those are the
values Ive grown up with ask for everyone, not just
yourself, and see how you can impact all.