Women and Entrepreneurship

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Kiran Mazumdar Shaw She is India's first woman Brew Master and the founder director of the Biocon Group.7 India's first lady biotech entrepreneur, Kiran Mazumdar (Mazumdar) was born and brought up in Bangalore. She was educated in Bishop Cotton Girls School and Mount Carmel College in the same city. Mazumdar's childhood ambition was to be a doctor, but when she was unable to get admission in a medical college, she decided to study zoology. After graduation, she was encouraged by her father (who was a brew master) to pursue a career in the science of fermentation. She went to Ballarat College in Melbourne to study malting and brewing technology and qualified as a Brew Master. After returning to India, she worked with her father for a few years as a consultant to some breweries in Kolkata, Mumbai and Bangalore. She was on her way to join a brewery in Scotland when a chance meeting with the founder of Biocon Biochemicals (Ireland), Leslie Auchincloss, steered her into a career in business. She started Biocon India in 1978 in a joint venture with the Irish firm. The company was first set up in her garage in Bangalore and later shifted to a rented house in the suburbs of the city.

Her Irish partners were willing to help her set up the company but she refused their help as she wanted to build the company totally on her own. In 1980, the company acquired 20 acres of land in Bangalore and shifted operations to the new location. In the late 1970s, biotechnology was unheard of. As a result, it was not easy to obtain funds for the venture. Banks and financial institutions were wary of giving her loans as biotechnology was a new field and was therefore considered "high risk". Being a woman, and one with no business qualification at that, made things even more difficult. Mazumdar also faced problems recruiting people. People were reluctant to work for women entrepreneurs as they doubted their credibility. She soon overcame these problems through dedication and hard work. In 1999, the Biocon Group was formed with the merger of all the companies under Biocon, i.e. Biocon India Ltd (founded 1978), Biochemizymes (founded 1990), Syngene (founded 1994) Biocon Quest (founded 1996) and Helix (founded 1998). Later, in 2000, Clinigene was also incorporated into the Group. Mazumdar owned 70 percent of the stock of Biocon and 75 percent of Syngene (the contract research organisation). Clinigene was a fully family-owned company, operating in the area of clinical research. Syngene was started in the late 1990s, when Mazumdar heard from some foreign visitors about the opportunities in contract research. Clinigene was started in 2000 on the advise of a former business associate who felt that clinical research offered a lot of possibilities. Commenting on Mazumdar's foresightedness, R.A Mashelkar, director-general of CSIR⁸ said, "Kiran Mazumdar has the ability to see an opportunity much before others."⁹ Mazumdar, however, did not take hasty decisions. She started a business slowly, first testing the waters and expanding only when she was sure of its potential. Syngene, for example was conceived in the 1990s but took off only in 1998. In 2001, it earned Rs 140 million, and in the first half of 2002, it made Rs 130 million.

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7] The Biocon Group comprises Biocon, Syngene and Clinigene. The Group is into biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and research.
8] Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. Established in 1942, it is India’s largest R&D organization.
9] Business World December 2, 2002

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