How “Foolish Courage” Brought One Indian Woman Far
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw: How “Foolish Courage” Brought One Indian Woman Far
Emerging markets are created when someone sees an opportunity for growth and leaps into it. It isn’t easy to spot an opportunity and give your all to seizing it. Many try and many fail- but those who succeed see the opportunity on hand and use failure as stepping stones to growth and tremendous success.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is a billionaire, India’s “biotech queen,” and a startup founder who began her business in the basement of her family. She was born in Bangalore, India, where she initially studied zoology at Bangalore University before traveling to Ballarat University in Australia for her master’s degree in brewing. As her father was a brewmaster for United Breweries, an Indian beer company, Mazumdar planned to follow in his footsteps- but found that those doors weren’t so readily open for women. Since she couldn’t find work in India, she decided to go abroad, where a position for her qualifications might be available. It was a pivotal moment in more ways than one; instead of choosing to forgo a career or to remain complacent with whatever opportunities were available at that time in India, Mazumdar decided to take a bold step in leaving her home country to find more fitting work abroad. I’m sure it had to be a difficult decision- but taking that step paid dividends for Mazumdar.
As she joined a brewery in Scotland, she stumbled into a chance meeting with 
entrepreneur Leslie Auchincloss. Auchincloss, an Irishman with a keen eye for opportunity, had, at that time, founded a pharmaceuticals company. He was impressed by Mazumdar and confided in her that he wanted to expand into his pharmaceuticals industry into India. Mazumdar, he felt, could be the one to lead the foray. Surprised, she automatically refused. As she told the BBC, “I told him I am the last person he should ask because I had no business experience, and I had no money to invest.” Yet something appealed to her about creating a market, and in 1978 she started Biocon off the framework Auchincloss suggested. Everything was a challenge at first for the 25-year-old Mazumdar. Employees weren’t willing to work for a woman, and banks weren’t willing to loan capital to an inexperienced young woman with a brand-new business to pitch.
She managed to secure a loan in 1979, and Biocon India began as a producer of industrial enzymes. With a good deal of marketing and outreach, Mazumdar began to grow a clientele in the US and in Europe. One product was a papaya-based chemical which prevented beers from being hazy. I’m curious about how it all began- how did Mazumdar put a brewing degree to use to come up with ideas for industrial enzymes?
Biocon continued to pivot, and with the support of Mazumdar’s husband John Shaw, the company blossomed into a drug manufacturer- with key products being a range of insulin drugs. It was taking bold risks that turned Mazumdar-Shaw into India’s first female self-made billionaire.
