Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
There are few people who can show the way among the multitudes, who are exceptional leaders. One such person is Kiran Muzumdar Shaw.
Kiran is the Chairperson and Managing Director of Biocon Ltd, India's biggest biotechnology company and one of the 20 leading biotech companies in the world.
Kiran never dreamt of becoming an entrepreneur. The cards were stacked against her: her father lost his savings in a bad investment, she had no background in biotech or entrepreneurship, and she had to overcome the stigma of being a female entrepreneur in the sciences. At the time of Biocon's founding, banks were unwilling to give loans for the unfamiliar field or biotechnology.
With the help of fellow female biotech mentor and just Rs.10, 000, Kiran founded Biocon in 1978. The company began by developing a process to extract papain, an enzyme from payaya. The fermentation process subsequently led to the development of several other industrial enzymes. By the year 1990, Biocon became capable enough to kick-start an in-house research programme in solid substrate fermentation technology that permitted it to create enzymes from pilot to plant level. Later, she led the company to the realm of biopharmaceuticals fully integrated bio-pharmaceutical venture comprising a well-balanced business assortment of products and services with specific research on diabetes, oncology and auto-immune disease. In 2004, Biocon's unprecedented success made Kiran India's richest woman.
Outside of business, Kiran is also a vocal spokesperson of the biotech industry. She is currently on the Advisory Council of the Government’s Department of Biotechnology, where she has been instrumental in bringing together government, industry and academia in order to plan a lucid and progressive growth path for Biotechnology in India. Most recently, she has been invited to join the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade & Industry in India and the US-India CEO Forum.
She is in recipient of several prestigious awards, including: The Economic Times Business Woman of the Year Award in 2004, Lifetime Achievement Award from Indian Chamber of Commerce in 2005 and Wharton Infosys Business Transformation Award in 2006.
DISCLAIMER: The contents in this article was collected through sources on the Internet.
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