google-site-verification=fFlPVzlcTBzLggz8RuDJjF2jA9-Him85qmRGgbgcT7Q How Kiran Mazumdar shaw started her business? successful women entrepreneurs.
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how Kiran Mazumdar shaw started her business? successful women entrepreneurs.

Updated: Jun 7, 2020

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is a very successful and famous women entrepreneur in the world.

She is a very inspirational character to the all-business industry person, because of its strategic leadership. this is the story about How Kiran Mazumdar shaw started her business?


She is the one who never gave up in any situation. Female entrepreneurs like this make history. she was setting up a business from garage room to Biocon factories in her early days. This is the successful story of an Indian Women entrepreneur Kiran Mazumdar shaw- History, Biography and struggle to build Biocon business.


How Kiran Mazumdar shaw started her business in her early days and struggle to setting up a Biocon business.

Indian women entrepreneur Kiran Mazumdar Shaw was born in Bangalore. She studied the technology of malting and brewing in Austria. She has completed graduation from Bangalore University with a bachelor's degree.


When she applied for a master brewer position, that time she was told that it is a man's work, but she did not give up and did a lot of work in many positions in Australia.


Kiran mazumdar shaw
History, biography and struggle to build biocon business.

After some time she met the founder of Biocon biochemical limited. Leslie in Ireland. This company was producing enzymes that are used for food packaging, brewing, and textile industries. Leslie also wanted to establish an Indian subsidiary.


struggle to set up a Biocon business:

She was questioned about, How to understand business of Biocon biochemicals, that's why she has worked as a trainee manager and returned to India to start her own company. She established her company in 1978 in the garage with the capital of 10000 rupees. It was a joint venture company and partnership with the foreign company, because of business law acts in India, foreign company ownership was restricted to only 30% and the remaining 70% to the Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.



Lots of financial challenges faced by entrepreneurs. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw also faces money troubles. No one was provided money for her business. because of its untested business model. one day she met a banker at some social activities, and opportunity knocked on the door. she got financial back-up, already Kiran was facing some challenges in this new field.

Her first employee was a garage mechanic because it was difficult to recruit right person for the right job in those days.


to set-up a business of Biocon, she also was facing technology problems, because of poor infrastructure. She was facing issues like power, quality water, sterile labs, imported equipment, and advance scale workers. But it was not too easy for her to adjust these things.


Kiran Mazumdar shaw expands the business of Biocon.

Extraction of papain used to tenderize meat. At that time Biocon was manufacturer and exporter of Enzymes in the US and Europe.


money is in hand
kiran mazumdar shaw raise capital for expand business

This startup hit Rock at the end of the year, Kiran Mazumdar bought a 20-acre property to expand the business of Biocon. She struggles a lot for business development from the manufacture of enzymes to biopharmaceutical company and also she focused on her research on diabetes autoimmunity disease and oncology. After that Syengene and Clinigene, these to subsidiaries were founded by Kiran Mazumdar Shaw. Clinigene mergers into Syngene. Now its market capitalization is around 1.15 billion dollars on the stock market.


After some days Ireland's best company Biocon biochemicals was acquired by Unilever. they partnership with each other, but Unilever also helps Biocon for the best quality system. In 8 to 10 years Unilever sold its chemical division to ICI imperial chemical industries with including Biocon.



She wanted to raise capital to develop Biocon. Scotsman John Shaw was the financer of Kiran Mazumdar. he personally raise $2000000 to purchase outstanding shares capital of Biocon from ICI. they married after some time.

In the year of 2004, Narayan Murthy advised Mazumdar Shaw to list Biocon in the stock market for future expansion.


Cost-effective techniques and affordable innovation.

This was the first biotech company to issue an IPO. on the first day of the market closed Biocon was oversubscribed 33 times and closed the market value with 1.1 billion dollars.

Affordable innovation is a driving philosophy of Biocon. She was inspired by one thing that Less economically developed countries always need affordable drugs. She invented some low-cost alternatives and also developed cost-effective techniques for a product.


Biocon develops techniques for cholesterol-lowering drugs. Mazumdar Shaw saw the future of the market potential of statin. Statin is cholesterol-lowering drugs. They expand other forms of statin and also develop their marketing strategy like long term supply contracts. Biocon revenue emerged massively from 70 to 500 crore rupees.


Diabetes and cancer are the major research areas of the Biocon company.There are 86% of oral cancer patients in India compared to all over the world because of the high consumption of tobacco. They are also working on skin pigment disease and psoriasis. Biocon is in the list of top insulin producers in India.

Kiran Mazumdar shaw Awards:


Kiran Mazumdar Shaw always invested 10% of revenue for the research and development. They filed 950 patents from research activity. Nowadays Kiran Shaw always activated in licensing, acquisition and partnership in pharmaceutical areas.


Board membership

  1. Governors of the Indian school of business

  2. Independent director on board of Infosys

  3. Member of the general body of Maharashtra state innovation society

She was named for the top 100 most influential people in the world. and she was on the top 50 women in business list .92 most powerful women in the world by Forbes.


This is How Kiran Mazumdar shaw started her business and become a successful women entrepreneur in the world.


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