SYMBIOSIS INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

Batch: 2009-11

ASSIGNMENT : Profile of Dr Kiran Mazumdar Shaw

Faculty: Dr Vivek Sane

Date of submission:9th September 2009

SUBMITTED BY:

Raghav Mehra
Section 1A, Roll No 30
Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw born 23 March 1953 in Bangalore is an Indian
entrepreneur. She is the Chairman & Managing Director of Biocon Ltd. In 2004, she
became India’s richest woman.
Early life

She was educated at the Bishop Cotton Girls School and Mount Carmel College at
Bangalore. After completing her Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from Bangalore
University in 1973, she went to Ballarat Institute of Advanced Education (now University
of Ballarat), Australia to study brewing and qualified as a master brewer in 1974. Kiran
Mazumdar Shaw started her professional career as trainee brewer in Carlton & United
Beverages in 1974. In 1978, she joined as a Trainee Manager with Biocon
Biochemicals Limited in Ireland.

In Biocon

Collaborating with the same Irish firm, she founded Biocon India with a capital of Rs.
10,000/- in 1978. The initial operation was to extract an enzyme from papaya. Her
application for loans was turned down by banks on two counts – biotechnology was
then a new word and the company lacked assets. Over the years, the company grew
under her stewardship and is today the biggest biopharmaceutical firm in India. In 2004,
Biocon went for an IPO and the issue was over-subscribed by over 30 times. Post-IPO,
Shaw held close to 40% of the stock of the company and was regarded as India’s
richest woman with an estimated worth of Rs. 2,100 crore (~U.S. $ 480 million).

Personal life

She is a civic activist, especially with respect to municipal administration in Bangalore.

She is also an art collector. She has authored 'Ale and Arty,' a Coffee table book about
brewing beer illustrated by paintings of some of India's renowned artists. Famous
brewing families and beer firms are the subject of the book. In 1998, she married John
Shaw, an expatriate manager and Indophile from Scotland at Madura Coats. John
Shaw resigned as the managing director of Madura Coats the same year and joined
Biocon as its Director for International Business and the Vice Chairman of the Board.
He is also a great enthusiastic trekker.

In an interview with the Deccan Herald dated September 9th, 2003, Ms. Shaw revealed
pride in Bangalore, the city where she was born and brought up and her disappointment
about the changing beauty of old Bangalore she knows. In her interview, Ms. Shaw
lamented at the crumbling beauty of Bangalore that was at one time a paradise city with
a soul. She felt that Bangalore has a unique culture of its own and the infrastructure had
not kept pace with development and hence led to decay in the beauty of the city. She
felt that Bangalore culture includes its own theatres, food, music, academics,
architecture. "There are very few cities in India where academicians and scientists are
glorified the way they are in Bangalore", she said.

In her effort to preserve the character of Bangalore, she has been proactively involved
in various city improvement plans like the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF). Being
a lover of art and arty things, her office is adorned with artifacts and paintings by Yusuf
Arakkal and various other artistes reflect her feelings. She has been a trustee of the
Karnataka Chitra Kala Parishat as well.

Ms Shaw holds very dear the MV Memorial Award she was given (MV popularly
stands as a nick name for the great visionary Sir M Vishwesharaiah, architect of modern
Karnataka). According to Ms. Shaw, she personally knew Sir MV and they were good
family friends. The award reminded her of her childhood days and she felt honoured to
receive it.
ACHIEVEMENTS OF MS.SHAW.

Recognition

She was termed India's Biotech Queen by The Economist and Fortune, and India's
mother of invention by New York Times. Some of the major awards won by her are: -

Wharton Infosys Business Transformation Award (2006)

Padma Bhushan (2005)

Honorary Doctorate from Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) (2005)

Lifetime Achievement Award from Indian Chamber of Commerce (2005)

Honorary Doctorate of Science, from Ballarat University (2004)

The Economic Times Business Woman of the Year Award (2004)

Whirlpool GR8 Women award for Science and Technology (2004)

Australian Alumni High Achiever Award from the IDP Australian Alumni Association
(2003)

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Healthcare & Life Sciences Category
(2002)

Woman of the Year from the International Women's Association, Chennai (1998-1999)

Padma Shri (1989)

Outstanding Young Person Award by Jaycees (1987)

Rotary award for the Best Model Employer (1983)

Outstanding Contribution Award (AWAKE) (1983)

Gold for Best Woman Entrepreneur, Institute of Marketing Management (1982)

AN ENTREPRENEURIAL SCIENTIST IN BIOTECHNOLOGY

A successful technocrat of global standing, Ms. Shaw heads India’s leading
Biotechnology enterprise, Biocon. She is highly respected in the corporate world and
has been recently voted by Nature Biotechnology as The Most Influential in Bio-
business person outside Europe and USA. Her pioneering efforts in biotechnology have
drawn global recognition both for Indian Industry and Biocon.

Ms Shaw chairs Karnataka's Vision Group on Biotechnology and also served on the
Board of Science Foundation, Ireland. She presently serves on the Advisory Council of
the Government’s Department of Biotechnology where she has been instrumental in
bringing government, industry and academia together, to chart a clear and progressive
growth path for Biotechnology in India. She is also part of the Prime Minister’s Council
on Trade & Industry in India and the US-India CEO Forum. Ms. Shaw also serves as
Member, Governing Body and General Body of the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission,
an Autonomous Body of the Government of India. She is also a founder member of the
Society for the formation of "Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine".
Ms. Shaw has most recently been nominated as Member of the Board of Trade,
Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

Ms. Shaw is the recipient of several prestigious awards including the Nikkei Asia Prize,
2009 for Regional Growth, Express Pharmaceutical Leadership Summit Award 2009 for
Dynamic Entrepreneur, the Economic Times ‘Businesswoman of the Year’, the ‘Veuve
Clicquot Initiative For Economic Development For Asia, Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur
of the Year Award for Life Sciences & Healthcare, ‘Technology Pioneer’ recognition by
World Economic Forum and The Indian Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement
Award. Her most cherished awards are the national awards, PADMASHRI (1989) and
PADMA BHUSHAN (2005) presented to her by the President of India, for her pioneering
efforts in Industrial Biotechnology.

Ms. Shaw received a graduate honors degree in Zoology from Bangalore University
(1973) and qualified as a Master Brewer from Ballarat University, Australia (1975). Ms
Shaw also received an honorary Doctorate of Science in 2004, from her alma mater,
Ballarat University, in recognition of her pre-eminent contributions to the field of
Biotechnology. She has also been awarded honorary doctorates from University of
Abertay, Dundee, U.K. (2007), University of Glasgow, U.K. (2008) and Heriot-Watt
University, Edinburgh, U.K. (2008).

Under her stewardship, Biocon has evolved from its inception in 1978 as an industrial
enzymes company to a fully integrated Biopharmaceutical enterprise encompassing a
well balanced business portfolio of products and services with a research focus on
Diabetes, Oncology and Auto-immune disease. During this transition, Biocon has
established 2 subsidiaries: Syngene (1994) to provide development support services for
discovery research and Clinigene (2000) to cater to services in clinical development.

A leading US trade publication, Med Ad News, in its 2007/08 listings has ranked Biocon
20th amongst the leading biotechnology companies in the world and the 7th largest
Biotech employer in the world. Biocon also recently received the 2009 BioSingapore
Asia Pacific Biotechnology Award for Best Listed Company

She is married to John Shaw, a Scotsman and Indophile, who headed a leading textiles
MNC, Madura Coats from 1991-1998 as Chairman and Managing Director. John Shaw
is currently the Vice-Chairman, Biocon Limited.

IN CONVERSATION
SHE IS India’s Biotech Queen—a Bangalore native who has transformed a small
business operating out of her garage, into a 150 million dollar company. Kiran
Mazumdar Shaw started her professional career as a trainee brewer in Carlton & United
Beverages in 1974.

In 1978, she joined as a Trainee Manager with Biocon Biochemicals Limited in Ireland.
Collaborating with the same Irish firm, she founded Biocon India with a capital of Rs
10,000 in 1978 and has never looked back thereafter.

She has bagged several national as well as international honours - The Economic
Times Business Woman of the Year Award (2004), Padma Bhushan (2005), Wharton
Infosys Business Transformation Award (2006), are to name a few. Here, she shares
her life experiences and more with Kanika Singh.

Q: During those days when biotechnology was a new word, how did you realise
the bright future of this industry?
Ans: As a brewer, I was absorbed by the marvels of biotechnology. My inability to
pursue a career in brewing directed me to the new and exciting field of Biotechnology. I
started with enzyme technology which involved fermentation and genetic engineering
and over the years, we have leveraged the underlying fermentation technologies from
enzymes to Biopharmaceuticals. I have always believed that Biotechnology holds the
promise for our future, be it food, health care, environmental sustainability and even
renewable energy.

Q: From a trainee brewer to one of the richest women in India. What has gone into
such a successful journey—determination, focus, honesty or a combination of
all?
Ans: I think it is a combination of several factors. I am a very determined person who
will rise to any challenge thrown my way. I have a deep sense of values and integrity
and will not stand for dishonesty and injustice. A sense of purpose has been my
underlying incentive. ’Succeeding against all odds’ has always given me a great high
and I am really pleased to see that we have built such a valuable organisation through a
100 per cent Indian effort. I am a proud Indian and it means a lot to me to be recognised
on the world stage. The world respects wealth creation and today Biocon is perceived
as a successful wealth creator. Biocon is about doing things in a differentiated way -
daring to be different so that you stand out. Biocon’s byline, ’The difference lies in our
DNA’ has enabled us to chart our own business destiny. I have also been very fortunate
to have a very competent and talented team, which has enabled Biocon scale new
heights.

Q: What do you wish to achieve with Biocon?

Ans: The next 10 years are going to be devoted to building cutting edge capabilities,
global credibility and of course, building global scale in our manufacturing and
marketing capabilities. My goal is to make Biocon a global biotechnology enterprise and
my dream is to see India as a global destination for biotechnology. We are already
gearing up to attain global scale. We have Asia’s largest Insulin facility. We will have
one of the world’s largest Statin facilities. We have Asia’s largest Monoclonal Antibody
facility and in due course perhaps the world’s largest antibody facility. Our ambition is to
be among the top 10 Biotech companies globally.

Q: As the chairperson of Biocon, how do you ensure welfare of your staff

members, particularly women members?
Ans: At Biocon, we do address gender sensitivity issues. Women are encouraged not
to come at odd hours in the night and if she has to travel to interior areas of the country
a male escort is provided. Biocon has a fully equipped creche that enables employees
to have their children cared for while they pursue their careers at the work place.
However, I am not the kind of person who will appoint women for the sake of their
gender but will do so for the role they play.

Q: Besides being an art collector, what else do you admire the most?
Ans: The creative genius of artists and scientists.

Q: Controversies are a part of famous people’s lives. You too have been caught
into controversies every now and then. How do you deal with them?
Ans: I try not to be too sensitive to criticism. It’s tough because I am a very sensitive
person but life is full of insecure people who emote through envy.

Q: Tell us something about your family.

Ans: I belong to a very close knit family and whenever I can get away from my
responsibilities at Biocon, I like to spend time with my family. My mother is someone
with whom I share a very special relationship. My two brothers and their families are my
greatest supporters. My husband is my anchor.

Q: How do you manage to take out time for your family?

Ans: It is important to have family support and co-operation to succeed in one’s career.
For women especially, balancing home and work life may become difficult without
adequate support from the family. Whilst it is true that I was single when I built Biocon,
the real growth came when I got married. My husband has played a vital role in our
success.

Q: What goes into a successful marriage?

Ans: A mutual trust and respect.

Q: How do you cope with stress that may come with your busy schedule?
Ans: I enjoy classical music and swimming and like to watch sports. I used to play a lot
of golf, but I do not have the time for the sport now. Outdoor activities have reduced
considerably, though I love the beach and snorkeling.

Q: What fitness regime do you follow?

Ans: I follow a schedule every day to keep fit. I have a small treadmill routine, followed
by a short yoga routine. During the weekends, I use my swimming pool, which is what I
enjoy the most. However, when I travel, my routine is ruined. That is the biggest
challenge for all of us who are in the corporate world. When I am home in Bangalore,
my diet is strict and healthy, with salads and a supplementary diet. However, when I
travel, there is a lot of entertaining to do and my diet suffers.

Q: As a woman entrepreneur, would you like to give a piece of advice to the

budding women entrepreneurs?
Ans: If you have a vision, a plan and the conviction, you should follow it and success
will come your way. Biocon is testimony to a vision that a team of like-minded people
with the same drive to excel can achieve.

Q: There are unfortunately many out there who need a helping hand from
successful people like you. Are you in any way attached to social activism?
Ans: I sincerely believe that it is important to give back to society - the very society that
has allowed us to attain the heights we have. At Biocon, our efforts extend beyond the
realm of biotechnology through our community-support initiatives and corporate
citizenship programmes. We recognise our responsibility to India - her health, education
and environment. Our particular focus is on child welfare as we realise the importance
of investing in children, to positively impact their future. Biocon Foundation has been
established with the aim of identifying and implementing projects that will impact the
social and economic scenario in the country. The main focus areas of the Biocon
Foundation are providing quality health care and health education for the betterment of
Indian society.