2. Life… Born on 23rd March, 1953 in Bangalore Schooling at Bishop Cotton Girls School & Mount Carmel College at Bangalore B.Sc in Zoology from Bangalore University Qualified as a master brewer from BallaratUniverstiy, Australia CMD, Biocon Ltd., India’s biggest Biotechnology Company In 2004, she became India’s Richect Woman
3. Personal Life… KiranMazumdar Shaw is married to John Shaw, a Scotsman and Indophile. John Shaw headed a leading textiles MNC, Madura Coats from 1991 to 1998 as CMD. Currently, John Shaw is Vice-Chairman of Biocon, Ltd. She has huge collections of paintings and other art works. She has also written a coffee table book named “Ale & Arty”- the story of Beer.
4. Mission or Vision…?? KiranMazumdar Shaw personally did not believe in vision She believed more in missions rather than vision. Her mission was to build a biotech company that would be respected globally. And most importantly, she wanted to change perception that India is not capable of a research-based business. To her, a leader should have more missions than vision. According to her, all leaders should be passionate about their sense of purpose.
5. Quotes about Vision and Mission.. “All leaders need not be visionaries and all visionaries need not be leaders.’’ “There can be a leader without vision but there can’t be a leader without mission.” “I believe that more than being a visionary, a leader must inspire people, help them share their ideas and aspirations.” “The vision concept is hyped and overstretched.”
6. Journey of Biocon…under her wings.. In 1978, she joined BioconBiochemicals Limited, of Cork, Ireland as a Trainee Manager. In 1978 itself, she started Biocon in he garage in Bangalore with a capital of Rs. 10,000. Within a year, Biocon became the first Indian company to manufacture and export enzymes to USA and Europe. In 1990, she upgraded Biocon’s in-house research program, based on a proprietary solid substrate fermentation technology. The commercial success of this program led to a three-fold expansion by 1996 and Biocon entered the biopharmaceuticals and statins segments In 1998, when Unilever agreed to sell its shareholding in Biocon to the Indian promoters, Biocon became an independent entity.
7. In 2000, Biocon's proprietary bioreactor, christened PlafractorTM, based on solid matrix fermentation received a U.S. patent. By 2003 Biocon became the first company worldwide to develop human insulin on a Pichia expression system. In 2004, she decided to access the capital markets to develop Biocon’s pipeline of research programs. Biocon’s IPO was oversubscribed 32 times and its first day at the bourses closed with a market value of $1.11 billion. It made Biocon the 2nd only company to cross $1 billion mark on the first day of listing. She entered into more than 2,200 high-value R&D licensing and other deals within the pharmaceuticals and bio-pharmaceutical space between 2005 & 2010
8. Biocon’s Achievement… Med Ad News, in its 2007/08 listings has ranked Biocon 20th amongst the leading biotechnology companies in the world. Med Ad News, in its 2007/08 listings also ranked Biocon as 7th Largest Employer in the world. Biocon also recently received the 2009 BioSingapore Asia Pacific Biotechnology Award for Best Listed Company
