Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is an Indian billionaire, businesswoman and Chairman-CEO of Biocon Limited, a biotechnology company based in Bangalore. She was born on March 23, 1953, in Pune, India. In 1968, she finished high-school at the Bishop’s Cotton Girl’s High School. 

With a childhood dream of becoming a doctor, she took a different path to the world of medicine. She went on to graduate from the University of Bangalore with Honors in Bachelor of Science in 1973. Her father, Rasendra Mazumdar, was the head brewmaster at United Breweries. He suggested that she study fermentation science and train to be a brewmaster, a very non-traditional field for women. 

Two years later, she completed her post-graduate studies from Ballarat College, Melbourne University, qualifying as a master brewer. 

Starting the Career- The Not So Easy Journey

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw’s career began as an in-house winemaker at Carlton & United Beverages. After working there for four years, she transferred her position to Biocon Biochemicals Limited, an Irish biochemical company. In the same year, she began Biocon in India with a start-up capital of Rs 10,000.

As she faced a severe lack of funds, establishing the business was not easy. All the banks she turned to for help, hesitated in offering the aid as India’s knowledge of biotechnology was not well established in the 1970s. Of course, her being a woman was a critical deciding factor. To persuade banks and investors to invest in businesses run by women was a tremendously difficult task, and sadly it still is for many. 

An enterprising woman was a scarce idea for Indians, and a woman who had the goals of introducing a whole new domain was even more unsettling for them. Her gender identity made her journey so difficult that she even struggled to hire people to work for her.