1. Kiran Majumdar Shaw By: Poonam Kahnoria

2. Introduction An Indian entrepreneur. The CMD of Biocon Ltd. a biotechnologycompany based in Bangalore . Born on March 23, 1953 in Bangalore, India. Schooling from the citys Bishop Cotton GirlsHigh School (1968). Completed her BSc Zoology Honours coursefrom Mount Carmel College, BangaloreUniversity (1973). Later did her post-graduation in Malting and 3. KMSs Early life In 1978 , she joined BioconBiochemicals Limited, of Cork, Irelandas a Trainee Manager. In the same year she started Biocon inthe garage of her rented house inBangalore with a seed capital of Rs.10,000. Initially, she faced credibility challengesbecause of her youth, gender and heruntested business model. Not only was 4. With single-minded determination she overcame these challenges only to be confronted with the technological challenges associated with trying to build a biotech business in a country facing infrastructural woes. Uninterruptedpower, superior quality water, sterile labs, imported research equipment, and advanced scientific skills were not easily available in India during the time. 5. Biocon She started Biocon in 1978 andspearheaded its evolution from anindustrial enzymes manufacturingcompany to a fully integrated bio-pharmaceutical company with a well-balanced business portfolio of productsand a research focus on diabetes,oncology and auto-immune diseases. She also established two subsidiaries:Syngene (1994) to providedevelopment support services for 6. Sheis responsible for steering Bioconon a trajectory of growth and innovationover the years. Within a year of its inception, Bioconbecame the first Indian company tomanufacture and export enzymes toUSA and Europe. In 1989, Biocon became the first Indianbiotech company to receive US fundingfor proprietary technologies. In 1990, she upgraded Biocons in-house research program, based on aproprietary solid substrate fermentation 7. In 2004, she decided to access thecapital markets to develop Bioconspipeline of research programs. Biocons IPO was oversubscribed 32times and its first day at the boursesclosed with a market value of $1.11billion, making Biocon only the secondIndian company to cross the $1-billionmark on the first day of listing. She entered into more than 2,200 high-value R&D licensing and other dealswithin the pharmaceuticals and bio-pharmaceutical space between 2005 8. In 2007-08, a leading US tradepublication, Med Ad News, rankedBiocon as the 20th leadingbiotechnology companies in the worldand the 7th largest biotech employer inthe world. Biocon also received the 2009BioSingapore Asia PacificBiotechnology Award for Best ListedCompany. Today, thanks to her leadership, Bioconis building cutting-edge capabilities,global credibility and global scale in itsmanufacturing and marketing activities. 9. Herpioneering work in the sector has earned her several awards, including the prestigious Padma Shri (1989) and the Padma Bhushan (2005) from the government of India. She was recently named among TIME magazines 100 most influential people in the world. Sheis on the Forbes list of the worlds 100 most powerful women and the 10. Candid Confessions KMSWhat was the small dream you had? My small dream when I started was about startinga biotech company which was a pioneeringconcept. It was about running an R&D basedbusiness. So, when you start off, your dreams are very small.It is like, let me start a new sector based onbiotech and R&D and see how big I can make thisbusiness. That is the way it started off, as a smalldream. This dream was because of a rebound. I hadactually wanted to take up a career and a job.When I didnt get a job (as a brewer), I was quite 11. Today, biotechnology is the one of themost happening fields, but when youstarted nobody was even talking about it.So, you were like a visionary...I dont know whether I can call myself avisionary. I was excited about the wholeconcept of biotechnology. Nobody evenunderstood what biotechnology was 33years ago. Pioneering companies always try outnew things and experiment with newconcepts and new things. 12. On a weekday, what do you do to remainpeaceful and not stressful? Itis impossible. I am always verystressed. I dont think I can ever say Iam a peaceful person at work. Thereare a lot of issues anddecisions.Business is stressful thesedays. Let us not kid ourselves. I wouldbe lying if I say I can de-stress on aworking day. The only way to de-stress for me is totake one or two days off and then come 13. You have won many awards including thePadma Shri, the Padma Bhushan, etc. You havebeen named as one of the top business personsin the world. Which do you think is your biggestachievement? Every laurel is special. Obviously, the PadmaShri and Padma Bhushan are very importantlaurels because it is a national recognition.Then, Time magazine naming me as one ofthe 100 most influential people in the world. Itwas a big recognition. I think that every one of them is special in itson way but when you ask me what is mygreatest achievement, I would say I still dontthink I have achieved enough. I have muchgreater things to achieve. 14. Do you call entrepreneurship chasing apassion? It is not just about chasing the passion.It is about creating new opportunities.Your tag line says, the difference lies inthe DNA?. I always say, whatever you do, youmust be different because every one ofour DNAs is different. So, dont copysomebody elses business model. I always tell young people to try and dosomething different and challengeyourself. If you challenge yourself, you 15. What would be your advice to youngentrepreneurs? Firstand foremost, I want to tell them that there are no short-cuts to success. I encourage young entrepreneurs because I feel India can grow only through entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is the only job multiplier. In India, there are so many opportunities for young people to start 16. Why do you think there are not many successfulwoman entrepreneurs? Wesee many women entrepreneurs today when it comes to small businesses. But where we do not see many success stories is in large businesses. I think it stems from lack of self confidence. Most women feel that they have limitations and they are not cut out to hold such large businesses. That has to change. It is heartening to see family businesses are encouraging their daughters which was not so in the past. That is a good sign. There are lots of executives but not many taking leadership roles. That is why I feel excited to see women like Mallika Srinivasan 17. Asa woman entrepreneur, how has it been for you? Basically,I am in a very different field. I was unique in many ways. I was a woman entrepreneur and a biotech pioneer. I never looked at myself as a woman entrepreneur because I was always painted as a very different breed of entrepreneur.Ihad the challenges as a pioneer and I never looked at the challenges as a woman entrepreneur. So as a pioneer, I