Kiran Mazumdar Shaw was only twenty five when she started Biocon in Bengaluru 1978. It is India`s first bio technology company. From a brew master to a pioneer in biotechnology her journey was a tough one. At that time no such industry existed. Biocon, today is a billion-dollar company and Asia`s largest Bio Parma concern. She has received several wards for her contribution to this field.

Early Life of Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw was born on March 23, 1953 in Bangalore. She completed her schooling from the city`s Bishop Cotton Girl`s High School (1968). She took up biology and completed her BSc Zoology Honours course from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore University (1973). She did her post-graduation in Malting and Brewing from Ballarat College, Melbourne University (1975).

She worked as a trainee in Carlton and United Breweries, Melbourne. She also worked as a trainee at Barrett Brothers and Burston, Australia. For sometime she worked as a technical consultant at Jupiter Breweries Limited, Kolkata and as a technical manager at Standard Maltings Corporation, Baroda between 1975 and 1977.

Career of Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
She started the company Biocon in 1978. Initially it was an industrial enzymes manufacturing company. However later on it was developed to a fully integrated bio-pharmaceutical company with a well-balanced business portfolio of products and a research focus on diabetes, oncology and auto-immune diseases. She also established two subsidiaries: Syngene (1994). This would provide development support services for discovery research and Clinigene (2000) in order to assist in clinical development services.

In 1978, she joined Biocon Bio-chemicals Limited Ireland as a Trainee Manager. She started Biocon in the same year in the garage of her rented house in Bangalore with a seed capital of Rs.10, 000.

Initially, she faced lot of difficulties. She tried to build a biotech business in India which lacked in major infrastructure facilities at that time. Within a year of its formation Biocon became the first Indian company to manufacture and export enzymes to USA and Europe. In 1989, it became the first Indian biotech company to receive US funding for proprietary technologies. In 1990 she incorporated Biocon Biopharmaceuticals Private Limited to manufacture and market a select range of bio therapeutics in a joint venture with the Cuban Centre of Molecular Immunology.

In 2004, she decided to access the capital markets so that Biocon`s research programs could be developed. Biocon`s IPO was oversubscribed 32 times and made it the second Indian company to cross the $1-billion mark on the first day of listing.

Between 2005 and 2010 she entered into more than 2,200 high-value R&D licensing and other deals within the pharmaceuticals and bio-pharmaceutical space. Biocon expanded globally and developed markets through acquisitions, partnerships and in-licensing. Affordable innovation has been the driving philosophy that has helped Biocon manufacture and market drugs reasonably. Biocon is among the top twenty companies in the world.

Social activities of Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
She started the Biocon Foundation in order to conduct health, education, sanitation, and environment programs for weaker sections of society. Each of the clinics serves a population of 50,000 people. She also contributed to the establishment of a 1,400-bed cancer care centre at the Narayana Health City campus at Boommasandra, Bangalore, along with Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty of Narayana Hrudayalaya in 2007.

Awards received by Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
She has received several awards. It includes the Nikkei Asia Prize (2009) for Regional Growth, Express Pharmaceutical Leadership Summit Award (2009) for Dynamic Entrepreneur, the Economic Times `Businesswoman of the Year` (2004), the `Veuve Clicquot Initiative For Economic Development For Asia, Ernst & Young`s Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Life Sciences & Healthcare (2002), `Technology Pioneer` recognition by World Economic Forum and The Indian Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement Award. She is also the recipient of awards like the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award (2002), the `Business Woman of the Year` Award from the Indian Business Leadership Award committee, CNBC-TV18 (2006), the Indian Merchants` Chamber Diamond Jubilee Endowment Trust`s`Eminent Businessperson of the Year Award`(2006) and the `Corporate Leadership Award` by the American India Foundation (2005). She has also received Doctorate of Science in 2004, from Ballarat University, from University of Abertay, Dundee, UK (2007), University of Glasgow, UK (2008) and Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK (2008).