Friday, July 5, 2024
ADVT 
Interesting

How Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Broke The Glass Ceiling With Biocon

Aparajita Gupta IANS, 10 May, 2016 12:37 PM
  • How Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Broke The Glass Ceiling With Biocon
Title: Myth Breaker: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw & the Story of Indian Biotech
 
Author: Seema Singh
 
Publisher: Collins Business
 
Pages: 324
 
Price: Rs.599
 
Start-ups may have become a familiar term in India in the past decade, but this lady dared to delve into such a mission -- a domain dominated by men even today -- more than three decades ago. The fact that she will be different from her peers was also evident rather early. For Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairperson and managiig director of Biocon, is also a trained brewmaster.
 
Shaw, who received Padma Shri in 1989, embarked on the start-up journey from her garage 37 years ago. She has managed to break the kind of myths that abound in the Indian scenario. Her's is a start-up seeded nearly four decades ago in the field of life sciences, and not information or communication technology.
 
As "Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw & the Story of Indian Biotechby" seeks to portray, she was also not an engineer and did not come from a business family. Biotech companies have traditionally started with science as the basis. But Shaw started with technology, and added science at the back-end, and then kept adding to it, says author Seema Singh, a journalist for over two decades, specializing on science and technology-related writings.
 
The book chronicles Biocon's 37-year long journey like a story. It narrates how, over a period of time, Shaw became a brand ambassador: "Not just of a flegling industry but of innovation-led business in general. By interacting with the funding and regulatory agencies and the political system, she gave a face to the industry."
 
 
The journey started in March 1978 when Shaw, who was in Baroda, was leaving for Delhi to fly to Scotland to begin work at a malting company. Les Auchincloss, the serial entrepreneur, wanted to meet her to give her a business proposal. The meeting took place in the forenoon.
 
"After a few weeks of experimentation with some enzymes at Barmalt Malting in Gurgaon she would join Moray Firth Maltings in Scotland. Three years earlier, she had returned from Australia with a degree in brewing which did not get her a job; she figured that being a woman brewmaster was not acceptable in India. It was not safe for the employers."
 
When she got the business proposal she was in Baroda helping her father Rasendra Mazumdar wind up his business. After retiring as the chief brewmaster at United Breweries in Bengaluru, Rasendra Mazumdar had started a malting company in Baroda.
 
"Auchincloss finally pried Kiran loose from her Scottish employer by promising her that if she did not enjoy the work after a year, he would make sure she got the same job, or some other in the brewing industry in the UK." And rest is history.
 
The book has beautifully intertwined Shaw's life with the birth and evolution of Biocon. It has pictures of Shaw from childhood and also that of Biocon.
 
Describing Leslie Auchincloss as entrepreneurs' entrepreneur, the book said he would pick his team members from different geographies, select people who could work together and innovate collectively.
 
 
Biocon, with Rs.3,570 crore consolidated revenue, is now India's largest biotech company, focussed on delivering affordable innovation. It works towards reducing therapy costs of chronic diseases like diabetes, cancer and autoimmune diseases by leveraging India's cost advantage to deliver affordable healthcare solutions to patients, partners and healthcare systems across the globe.

MORE Interesting ARTICLES

New Evidence That Certain Drugs May Help Reduce Domestic Violence

Researchers have found more evidence that psychedelic drugs, whose primary action is to alter the thought processes of the brain, may help curb domestic violence committed by men with substance abuse problems.

New Evidence That Certain Drugs May Help Reduce Domestic Violence

E-Cigarettes May Do More Benefit Than Harm: Experts

A team of international tobacco control experts has found that use of e-cigarettes can reduce overall smoking as well as potentially decrease the mortality rates particularly arising out of cigarette smoking.

E-Cigarettes May Do More Benefit Than Harm: Experts

Dalit Woman Dragged & Raped In Muktsar, Accused Surrenders, Co-accused Arrested

Dalit Woman Dragged & Raped In Muktsar, Accused Surrenders, Co-accused Arrested
Muktsar police have arrested Gurinder, alias, Jojo, in connection with the abduction and rape of a Dalit girl on March 25.

Dalit Woman Dragged & Raped In Muktsar, Accused Surrenders, Co-accused Arrested

Indian-origin Woman Doctor Fired From Miami Hospital 3 Months After Assaulting Uber Driver

Indian-origin Woman Doctor Fired From Miami Hospital 3 Months After Assaulting Uber Driver
The incident took place in Miami's Brickell area and was posted by someone using the YouTube account Juan Cinco.

Indian-origin Woman Doctor Fired From Miami Hospital 3 Months After Assaulting Uber Driver

DIY Facial Care Tips For Men This Summer

DIY Facial Care Tips For Men This Summer
Oatmeal can be an excellent scrub, whereas the citric property of curd not only eliminates the tan but also keep the blemishes away.

DIY Facial Care Tips For Men This Summer

Being Harsh On Your Kids Makes Them Fat

Being Harsh On Your Kids Makes Them Fat
Are you an authoritative parent? A new study has found that harsh parenting may increase a child's risk of obesity and poor physical health in adulthood.

Being Harsh On Your Kids Makes Them Fat