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Queen of Biotech: Ms.Kiran Majumdar Shaw
 Among the many persons whom Bangalore can proudly call its own dear ones, biotech entrepreneur and CEO of Biocon India Group, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is definitely one. Forward looking, driven, enterprising and definitely outspoken, Kiran is everything that one would look to in a woman of her stature.
In 1979, when Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, the founder of Biocon India, went to a bank with a loan application for her then biotechnology fledgling company, she was out rightly turned down. All she had was Rs 10,000 and a garage in Bangalore as an office. Her application for loans was turned down by banks on three counts –‘biotechnology’ was then a new and not much heard word, the company had no major credible assets, and most importantly, lacked the acceptance for women entrepreneurs.
Over the years, under stewardship of Kiran, Bicon grew exponentially and twenty five years later, it has become only the second Indian company to breach the $ 1billion market cap mark on the first day of its listing. Ms. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw emerged as the wealthiest woman in India and she was described as "India's Biotech Queen" by The Economist while The New York Times called her "India's mother of invention'.
Kiran was born and brought up in Bangalore, India and hailed from a middle-class family, which encouraged her to pursue higher education. Following the footsteps of her father, who was chief brewmaster in United Breweries , she went to Ballarat College in Melbourne, Australia, to specialize in Malting and Brewing Technology to become India's first woman brewmaster.
However, after coming back to India, in 1975, Kiran failed to find any lucrative job offers albeit excellent qualification as her chosen profession was completely male-dominated.
Kiran struggled for 2 years as a consultant, but later went abroad and found a job in the UK. During her stay in UK, she met Leslie Auchincloss (Auchincloss), the owner of Biocon Biochemicals Limited, an Ireland-based company who was planning to start a business in India. Kiran grabbed this unique opportunity to start company of her own in India. Many advised against giving up her job in order to set up a an industry. Kiran was also warned about the difficulties involved in doing business for a woman in India. However, thanks to the support of her parents and her strong willpower, Kiran did not give up the idea of establishing her own business.
In1978, Kiran established ‘Biocon’, the first biotechnology company in India at Banglore. Kiran owned 70 per cent and Auchincloss owned 30 per cent equity stake in Biocon. The initial operations of Biocon included extraction of enzymes and their export to the Irish company. Over the period, her unique vision steered Biocon's transition from an industrial enzymes company to an integrated biopharmaceutical company with strategic research initiatives. Today, Biocon is recognized as pioneering biotech enterprise and ‘Biocon’ has become the buzzword for the emerging field of Biotechnology in India.
Company made its first public offer in March 2004 and the shareholders earned handsome returns on their investments as the stocks rocketed, from offered Rs 315 to Rs 780 in early November 2004.
In November 2004, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (Kiran), the Chairperson and Managing Director of Biocon India Limited (Biocon) received the 'Businesswoman of the Year Award,' from 'The Economic Times of India, ' a leading Indian business daily. Over last 25 years, Kiran has received many prestigious award, however, her most cherished ones are the PADMASHRI (1989) and PADMA BHUSHAN (2005) presented to her by the President of India, for her pioneering efforts in Industrial Biotechnology.
But there is also another dimension of Kiran Majumdar, which many Bangaloreans are familiar with, that is her passion for Bangalore. She has actively campaigned for need - civic amenities, roads, cleanliness etc. She was among the first to hail the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF) initiative by contributing Rs.10000000 which was utilized for starting ‘the Swachcha Bangalore programme’ of door-to-door collection of garbage.
With all her grand achievements, without losing the ‘human face’, Ms. Kiran Majumdar-shaw truly deservers to be an ‘icon’ for millions of Indian youngsters and we on behalf of AbhayJere.com wish her success for all future endeavors.
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