I took buses across the country and met customers. My early days taught me to fend for myself and be brave: Kiran Mazumdar Shaw

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw was up for a big shock when she returned to India after earning a masters degree in Malting and Brewing in 1975, from the Ballarat University, Australia. Having excelled her way through a  male-dominated space, reality hit hard when the young qualified professional, who topped her class as the only female student, was rejected by almost every recruiter. The reason? —“I was a woman” ! 

She took  the rejection in her stride  40 years ago. Today, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is an entrepreneur and business leader of repute, running Biocon, one of the most successful bio-pharmaceutical companies in the world. 

In a fireside chat with YourStory Founder & CEO, Shradha Sharma, on the sidelines of the Women on a Mission Summit, Kiran recalled the rejection, “It (brewing) was a male-dominated space. Nevertheless, I topped my class and made my father proud. When I returned to India, I was in for a rude shock. I couldn’t find any job as I was a woman. My father told me, ‘These people don’t know what they are   missing, you are a brilliant brewer. ”She says she built Biocon as “a sort of defiance”, and made her father proud. 

The everlasting impact

Behind every successful daughter is a supportive father, and Kiran stands testament to that. Sharing anecdotes from her early days, Kiran recalled how she was confused about her career after graduating from Bangalore University with a bachelor's degree in Zoology in 1973, and sought her father’s advice.

“Of all the things, he said, why don’t you do  brewing! And I wondered why would you want a girl to do brewing, which is such a non-traditional field for women. He said why are you looking at it as a gender loaded career? Brewing is just fermentation science and fermentation is agnostic to what you produce at the end. You can make anything out of it - a beer or a pharmaceutical - you decide, but you must have the ground understanding,” says Kiran, who went on to become a brewmaster in Australia. 

It’s evident that her father has had a deep and lasting impact on her life and career and has moulded her into the  business leader she is today — ambitious, emphatic, courageous and ethical.

“My father was way ahead of his time. He gave me courage, and pushed me into taking challenges. He said, don’t listen to anyone who tells you that women are inferior to men  and have to separate their ambitions or do certain things only. He gave me the confidence and courage to think big and fight gender bias. I never had that concept that gender stood between me and anything I wanted to do,” she added. 

Imbibing frugality and fearlessness 

Kiran started Biocon India in 1978 in the garage of her rented house in Bengaluru with a seed capital of

Rs 10,000. Like most first-generation women entrepreneurs, she too faced her share of biases and credibility challenges because of her youth, gender and an  untested business model. 

In the initial days of setting up Biocon, Kiran had to travel to remote corners of the country to meet traders, who often “expected a man” to address them. She convinced them all with her negotiating skills and hard work, which earned her immense respect in the circuit.   

With  limited monetary resources but an unwavering will to succeed, Kiran banked on frugality and fearlessness.

“I didn’t have a large organisation to send people off for marketing and sales. I had to do it myself. I took buses across the country and met customers. My early days taught me to fend for myself and be brave,” she said, and added, 

“I don’t believe in status symbols.”

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Advice to women entrepreneurs 

Kiran offered some pragmatic words of advice to women entrepreneurs. 

Don’t become a “victim” 

As a woman  leader, Kiran encourages her female employees to speak up, participate and voice their opinions, and more importantly, not become a “victim”. 

She explained, “In our case, it’s about survival. I want women to have the courage and conviction and get on with it. The moment you feel you need some special method or privilege, you will become a victim. All the female employees and leaders in my office are very strong and don’t expect any special treatment. That's what prevents you from becoming a victim.” 

Prioritise time

Kiran believes that as women,  we have to multitask, and hence must prioritise. In her own life, she sorts her daily activities from most to least important. 

She emphasises, “Your life has to be organised in terms of priorities. On a particular day, if my husband, who is a cancer patient, needs to visit  the hospital then that is my priority above everything else. Then comes the rest of the priorities. At work, the most urgent issues become your priority and that you have to figure out as a business leader. In personal life, health is always a priority. That becomes very easy to manage once you have it all clear in your mind.” 

Remain grounded, emphatic and ambitious 

She said, “People need to understand we are all fortunate to be successful for various  reasons.  I wouldn’t have been this successful had my stars not aligned despite all the hard work. I have seen women who are smarter than me, but not successful. We are all products of a set of circumstances, which we  should be grateful for. It is never me, myself and I.”  She added that it’s imperative to replace  ‘arrogance’ with ‘empathy’, and combine it  with ambition.

Have a purpose and direction 

Every entrepreneur must have a strong sense of business purpose before getting into entrepreneurship. Don’t get into things just for the sake of it.

Kiran elaborated, “Why am I doing this, is this something that I will be excited about, will it be enduring, meaningful and impact my life — you must seek answers to these questions. I understand it is difficult for young people, but at least find a direction,” she says. 

Kiran also shared that she revelled in the simple pleasures of life in the present - daily video chats with her grand nephews and nieces, and vacations with family.

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is surely a woman on a mission - a believer, ambitious, fearless, empathetic and grounded!

A shout out to the sponsors of Women on Mission Summit 2022, an Initiative by HerStory, by YourStory -

BYJU'S, the presenting partner, and other sponsors - Kyndrl, Sequoia Spark, Zilingo, Atlassian, Akamai, Freshworks for Startups, and Netapp Excellerator.