EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Women in the workplace have seen tremendous growth over the past few decades but still,
there's a long way to go to bring in gender equality and provide equal opportunities in every
field as well as give them equal pay.

A survey done by the Business manager website shows a 55% jump in women holding CEO
and MD positions in mid-market companies to 24% as compared to 7% in 2022. We wanted
to study why has there been such a rise in the number and for this project, we have
considered 3 women CEOs namely, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Neelam Dhawan, and Sonia
Syngal. We studied and analyzed the history, challenges, success, and management styles of
these incredible women leaders.

Through this report, we have deep dived and tried to understand how important it is to
prioritize women’s empowerment and see changes coming our way through their crucial roles
in society, economy, and environment.

1|Page
Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY..........................................................................................................................2
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw..........................................................................................................................4
First Female Billionaire of the World’s Largest Democracy.............................................................4
The Beginning...................................................................................................................................4
The Struggles and the Victories.........................................................................................................5
The Philanthropist.............................................................................................................................5
Neelam Dhawan...................................................................................................................................6
The Women Who Defied Expectations.............................................................................................6
Her Struggles and The Journey to Success........................................................................................6
Her Leadership Style.........................................................................................................................7
Sonia Syngal- GAP.................................................................................................................................7
The Women Who Defined Fashion....................................................................................................8
The rise and the downfall..................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................10

2|Page
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw

First Female Billionaire of the World’s Largest Democracy

It was the late 1970s. India was at the top of License Raj. Most of the Indian industries were
being run by the Union Government. In India, entrepreneurship used to be jargon on the page
of a dictionary only. A 25-year-old girl from Karnataka, with Ten thousand rupees in her
pocket, started her own business as an enzyme exporter in 1978. Her courage and ability to
learn continuously from failure have made Kiran Mazumdar Shaw the first female billionaire
in India. She is currently the Chairman and Managing Director of Biocon, and Biocon
Biologics. She recently has been awarded the “H.K. Firodia Lifetime Achievement Award
2022” for her “monumental contributions as a global leader in biotechnology innovation and
entrepreneurship” by Firodia Memorial Foundation.

The Beginning

Kiran was born on 23rd March 1953, in Bangalore, to a humble Gujrati family. She aimed to
be a doctor in her initial years. But she failed to get a scholarship to pursue further medical
education. With the advice from her father, Rasendra Mazumdar – a brew-master at United
Breweries, she moved to Australia to study malting and brewing at Ballarat College,
Melbourne University, after graduating in Zoology from Bangalore University in 1973. She
was the only female pursuing the course over there. She not only earned a master’s degree as
a master-brewer but was also top in her class.

Kiran started her career as a trainee brewer in the Carlton and United Breweries, Melbourne,
Australia. Thereafter she worked with Jupiter Breweries Limited, Kolkata as a technical
consultant, and with Standard Maltings Corporation, Vadodara as a technical manager till
1977. But, even after having excellent academics and deep knowledge, she was rejected from
becoming a master brewer by multiple companies only because of her gender. It turned out to
be a critical moment in her life. As she started thinking about moving abroad, Kiran came

3|Page
across Leslie Auchincloss, who was the founder of Biocon Biochemicals Limited, from
Ireland. After working in that company which used to produce enzymes for further use in
processes like brewing, food packaging, and different textile industries, Mazumdar started a
joint venture with Auchincloss in her garage in Bengaluru in 1978.

The Struggles and the Victories

“My ability to face and learn from failure and move on has helped me a great deal in being
successful” – Kiran Mazumdar Shaw

The initial years were not cake walk for this ambitious woman. Neither people were ready to
invest in the company nor wanted to work under a woman entrepreneur. Adding to that, the
Biotech industry was very new to this country. With a retired mechanic as the first employee,
and financial backing from a banker whom she met at a social event, she started the first unit
in a three thousand-square feet shed. Further, she also faced problems from the technology
side as India was in its early developmental phase. But there were no barriers that could stop
Mazumdar from achieving what she aimed for. Biocon India became the first Indian
organization to manufacture enzymes and to export those to the United States of America and
Europe, within the year of its journey. And thereafter there has been only growth and success
added to her story.

Kiran Mazumdar started Biocon Biopharmaceuticals Private Limited to manufacture

biotherapeutics in 1990. It was a joint venture with the “Cuban Center of Molecular
Immunology”. Finally, in 2004, Biocon became the first Biotech company in the Indian
market to launch a successful IPO. On the first day of trading, it crossed the market value of
$1 billion. She hasn’t stopped there. As she understood the huge demand for affordable drugs
in developing countries, Kiran started looking for opportunities that can develop cost-friendly
techniques and affordable alternative options. By 2014, Biocon engaged around ten percent
of its revenue for research and development. It also filed almost a thousand patents based on
its research activities.

4|Page
The Philanthropist

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw was ranked fourteenth in general and second in the list of Women
Philanthropists, by the “Hurun Report India Philanthropy List 2019”. She has not only taken
Indian Biotech Industry to the global level but also contributed to the well-being of humanity.
She has done several contributions to Health, Education, and Public Infrastructure. Her active
support in building Arogya Raksha Yojana and Mazumdar-Shaw Medical Foundation are
some examples. She also funded a research program through the creation of the “Biocon
Cell for Innovation Management” at the Indian School of Business.

She has been named among the top 100 influential personalities of the world by Time
Magazine in 2010. She has won several international awards over the last two decades. The
“Othmer Gold Medal (2014)” for the outstanding contributions toward the progress of
science and chemistry, and the “Nikkei Asia Prize (2009)” are a few of them. She also
became the first lady to head the Board of Governors in IIM Bangalore in 2014. Over the
decades, she has become the inspiration for many entrepreneurs, and a role model for many
ambitious women.

Neelam Dhawan

The Women Who Defied Expectations

Starting in 1982, when Mrs. Neelam Dhawan found it very difficult to get jobs in the
marketing domain. Even though she was the pass out of 2 of the most famous colleges in
India, the was rejected from marketing roles because the world thought women could not fill
the positions. She rejected those notions and now 40 years later she is the most powerful
women leader in the field of Information Technology and has been the key in shaping the
Indian IT industry.

Her Struggles and The Journey to Success

Neelam has a bachelor’s degree in Economics from “St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi”, after
which she pursued her Master’s in Business Administration from the “Faculty of
Management Studies, Delhi University”. She was very focused on getting a job in an FMCG
firm but the world in 8’'s was not ready to take women in marketing roles. She was rejected

5|Page
by Hindustan Unilever and Asian paints for that very reason. She did get a job in banking at
the ANZ Grindlays Bank. She was determined to make it big in the field of Technology and
Marketing and hence decided to reject the offer and joined HCL as her first company. She
had a lot of support from her parents as in her own words her brother asked her “if you are
serious about making a career, you must do a master’s and an MBA.”
She was a visionary and saw the bigger picture. When she started the computer industry was
a small industry of less than 100 crores. In her journey to become the Vice President and
Managing Director of HP, she became the Vice President of IBM from 1995 to 1999 and the
Managing director of Microsoft from 2005 to 2008. She has defined how women must be
strong in the industry. After having her 1st baby in 1989 she got back to work in just 7 days.
She has inspired many women and has always encouraged them to join the industry.

She has demonstrated leadership qualities from the beginning of her career when in 1986, she
helped HCL launch BusyBee the first affordable PC. In the 90,s she helped IBM set up
distribution channels in Tier II cities in India to sell IBM Computers. While the sales of
computers were declining in the 2010’s she asked HP to invest in booming sectors like
gaming to offset the loss of revenue from declining sales of computer systems.

Her Leadership Style

Mrs. Sheetal has always encouraged hard work over anything as she has always said
“Because you are the best salesperson does not guarantee that you would be a very
successful brand head unless you learn everything about your new position and train
yourself to excel at the new job” She has also been a visionary and has always asked the
bigger companies to look at startups as they are the drivers of innovation. She often quotes
the example of Microsoft DOS and how it took risks and created long-term value for itself.
She also has encouraged women to join the workforce as she said “Women normally have
great ideas, but they keep questioning and doubting themselves. My advice is don't doubt
yourself. You know what you want to do, so just do it. Listen to opinions, think things
through, but do what your heart tells you to do. As women, we tend to hold back.”

Sonia Syngal- GAP

The Women Who Defined Fashion

6|Page
Sonia Syngal is an Indian-Canadian entrepreneur who formerly held the position of CEO of
GAP, Inc., the biggest specialty clothing brand in the United States. Syngal was born in India
to Satya and Sushma Syngal but when her family immigrated to Canada when she was small.
She moved to US and earned her B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering degree from “Kettering
University” in 1993 and her “Master’s degree in manufacturing Systems from Stanford
university in 1995.”

The rise and the downfall

Sonia Syngal made it to the top by rising through the ranks. Syngal has held positions at
several Fortune 500 firms, including six years at Ford Motor Company and ten years at Sun
Microsystems, where she oversaw the manufacturing operations, logistics, and supply chain
management departments. Syngal became part of Gap Inc. in 2004 and has held a variety of
executive positions, including Managing Director for the company's European operations and
Senior Vice President for both the International and Outlet divisions of Gap Inc. She
managed Gap Inc.'s global supply chain and redefined the company's product-to-market
strategy for its portfolio of brands while serving as executive vice president of global supply
chain and product operations.

Syngal headed Old Navy, Gap Inc.'s largest brand, from 2016 to 2020. During her leadership,
the brand's revenue rose from $7 billion to $8 billion, it opened more than 1,200 stores in
North America, it scaled its e-commerce site to become the fourth-largest apparel site in the
United States, and it acquired competitive omnichannel capabilities.

In March 2020, she was appointed the company's CEO. With a workforce of more than
100,000 workers, she oversaw the company's portfolio of lifestyle brands, which included
Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta, across all markets and distribution channels.
At the time of her selection as CEO in March 2020, Syngal was one of only three women
CEOs of color among the 37 female CEOs of Fortune 500 corporations.

Syngal has also contributed to the Fashion Pact's Steering Committee. The Fashion Pact is a
global alliance of businesses in the fashion and textile sectors dedicated to three primary
environmental goals: halting global warming, regenerating biodiversity, and safeguarding the
oceans. She is also a member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Board of Governors and
serves on The Gap Foundation Board of Trustees.

7|Page
On July 11, 2022, Syngal resigned as CEO and from the board of Gap Inc. With immediate
effect, Bob Martin, the organization's present executive chairman and a 40-year business
veteran, will act as interim president and CEO of Gap Inc. Women's participation at the top
of US public firms has been further diminished by Syngal's departure. According to
Bloomberg Data, 33 women are now running S&P 500 Index firms.

Soon after she was appointed as the CEO of Gap in 2020, the stores were required to be shut
down due to Covid-19 lockdowns. The company struggled through slumping sales and
supply-chain disruptions. She tried guiding the brand through the pandemic. However, she
was unable to maintain her momentum. As offices reopen and customers turn away from
casual dress like sportswear in favor of professional attire, the company seemed to be
struggling to capitalize on the quick shifts in fashion. Last quarter, the upmarket Banana
Republic brand stood out for Gap, but it wasn't enough to make up for other divisions' losses.

Her core values have been inclusivity, diversity, and being open to all, and has always wanted
her customers to feel the same way. According to her, the Gap brand stands for modern
America optimism and after working for 18 years with Gap Inc., she looks forward to
watching the team continue to break boundaries.

CONCLUSION

In this report, we have found that all the 3 women faced challenges in the male-dominated
world when it came to reaching the top. There was a lot of stereotyping for job roles but the
belief they and their families had in them helped them rise to the top. Also, it showed the
importance of education and an openness to learn new things. All of them also believe that
women have the potential and determination to set up, hold and run their businesses with just
little encouragement and support from society. They can contribute not just to the world
economy but also work hand in hand with men to create a better world to live in.

REFERENCES

8|Page
https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/17714556?leadSource=uverify%20wall

https://yourstory.com/herstory/2022/09/nidhi-gopal-intuit-women-succeed-tech?
utm_pageloadtype=scroll

https://www.businessworld.in/article/Neelam-Dhawan-The-Elegant-Tech-Giant/16-03-2017-
114492/

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/jobs/get-ready-to-see-women-ceos-hp-india-md/
articleshow/25262750.cms

https://kiranshaw.blog/2022/04/01/inspiring-journeys-with-ms-kiran-mazumdar-shaw/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiran_Mazumdar-Shaw

https://kiranshaw.blog/author/kiranshaw/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ljkelly/2019/10/31/voices-of-success-billionaire-kiran-mazumdar-
shaw-on-founding-biocon-as-an-accidental-entrepreneur/?sh=4008874b5217

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/mazumdar-shaw-awarded-hk-firodia-lifetime-
achievement-award-2022/article65932063.ece

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesasia/2013/05/29/heroes-of-philanthropy-kiran-mazumdar-
shaws-affordable-health-care-legacy/?sh=32e91bd95a1b

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonia_Syngal

https://www.hindustantimes.com/business/gap-ceo-syngal-f-dired-for-failing-to-rescue-struggling-
retailer-101657587141776.html

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonia-syngal-758444/

https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/corporate/story/gap-ceo-sonia-syngal-to-step-down-amid-
slumping-sales-341219-2022-07-12

https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/personalities/news/meet-sonia-syngal-the-gap-ceo-who-
navigated-the-clothing-brand-during-the-pandemic/slidelist/92825540.cms

9|Page