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The journey of Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and how she grew Biocon from a garage in Bengaluru to become one of India’s most significant Pharma and biotech enterprise is unquestionably one of the greatest entrepreneurial tales of the last half of the 20th Century in any part of the world. Even more astonishing is the milieu in which it occurred – a woman creating a science-oriented enterprise in India in 1978, in an era when the technology sector and the upper echelons of Indian business were by and large male territories.
What transpired when she interacted with Nikhil Kamath on the WTF channel was a lesson in understanding what it truly takes to create something meaningful- with vulnerability, humility and the rich experiential insight gained from indeed having been there and done that.
This blog summarizes the major themes and most insightful points from that discussion.
The Beginning – Starting From Nothing in 1978
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw established Biocon when she was just 25 years old – and unencumbered by wealth or support. She set up the enterprise in her garage with ten thousand rupees as seed capital with the idea of making enzymes for export.
She is describing how tough she found it to be credible at the time – as a woman, as a young woman, as a woman trying to establish a science-based company in India when there was virtually no history of biotech entrepreneurship there; people wouldn’t give her loans; people wouldn’t join her company because she was a woman. It was not just a commercial battle; it was the credibility she was fighting against. Every single thing in her favor was absent; she was fighting from scratch in an environment where no one expected her to make it
In the face of these challenges, her reaction wasn’t to whine about it or mobilize a movement to give her a trophy. It’s to create something so insanely good that the cynics can’t maintain their stance.
Building Biocon – The Long Game
Perhaps the most telling section of the podcast is what Mazumdar-Shaw says about how Biocon was built up over decades not by serial leaps but by a silent preponderance to think about the long term.
Describes how the decision was taken to foray from enzyme manufacturing and into biopharmaceuticals, a far more capital-intensive and regulated market, and the seven years of investment in research and infrastructural build-up that preceded any commercial realization. ‘This was a change in strategy by choice and not compelled by circumstance’..
She is equally plainspoken about the money stresses of that time-as when money was scarce, when the business appeared likely to go under, and how she kept the faith afloat amid the doubts.
Women in Business – What Has Changed and What Has Not
As the owner of one of India’s most successful all female entrepreneurs Mazumdar-Shaw has been asked about gender more times than she cares to remember. Her responses are especially insightful here as she puts them more into historical perspective.
She describes how searingly different the environment was when she entered, back in 1978 when she started out. The obstacles she encountered over the years- the lack of faith by banks, the challenge of building her team, the absence of role models- are remarkably absent when women start out, building their enterprises, in India today. The ecosystem is vastly more encouraging.
But she is also aware of the areas where the situation is yet to improve. Women leaders continue to attract different questions from those dealt to their male colleagues. Expectations from women who take on the challenge of a professional career along with family responsibilities are still different. And the number of women at the helm of Indian businesses is still low.
Her uncompromising counsel to young women: don’t make the remaining barriers an excuse;Build everything you may want to build. The environment is much more supportive than it was and will continue to be so.
Healthcare Innovation – What India Can Contribute to the World
Much of the interview rounds up to be about innovation in healthcare – and the role Biocon will have there – this section takes on great significance considering the increasing international significance for the Indian pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry.
Mazumdar-Shaw explains how the initiatives taken by Bio con in the field of dissimilar (bio similar drugs are cheaper (costed at 1/10th of original drug) copies of prestigious branded drugs – an exact copy of a biological without any efficacy difference) has had significant implications on the accessibility of Healthcare around the world. These initiatives enabled a large number of patients in developing nations to gain access to chemotherapy and other biological drugs, which otherwise would have remained unapproachable.
She touches on the issue of the responsibility entailed in such an impact – and talks about how she firmly believes that the goal in building a great healthcare company is not just to generate shareholder value, but truly to improve health for humans.
Entrepreneurship in India – The Ecosystem Then and Now
When Mazumdar-Shaw reflects the entrepreneurial environment she faced in 1978 to what is currently in India today, it is both.
The ecosystem improvements are real. Capital is more easily available, regulatory frameworks are more robust, a startup mentality culture did not exist when she set up Biocon, young Indians today when 25 have role models, networks and assets not imagined in 25s.
-But she also mentions ongoing determinants of the Indian market, such as the Indian business climate is still risk averse; people tend to take the ‘safe’ route than the one that impacts the industry; not enough deep science and technology investments go in relative to the investments in the consumer and software sphere.
She looks to future Indian entrepreneurs to solve the tougher challenges in business-the ones demanding longer time horizons, larger capital commitments, and acceptance of uncertainty-because solving those kinds of problems produces the most enduring value.
Why This Podcast Resonated
The Kiran Mazumdar-Show interview hit a chord because she is one among the rare to have actually done something that hardly a handful have ever done and talks about it in a frank manner.
There is no sell in how she tells the story. No effort to enhance, ease, complicity. Just a straightforward telling of what it demanded, how it failed, how she grew, and that she would do exactly that thing again.
That sort of honesty is what drives true, practical intelligence away from the self-evading, motivational self-esteem crush of tripe found on most motivational websites.
About Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is the Founder and Executive Chairperson of Biocon Limited, India’s premier biopharmaceutical company. Ms. Mazumdar-Shaw established the company in 1978.
Ma has been recipient of several awards including the Padma Sri and Padma Bhushan, Indian fourth and third highest civilian awards respectively. Ma has regularly been ranked as one of the most powerful Indian women in business and one of the world’s most powerful people in healthcare.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Social Media Accounts:
- Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Twitter/X Account
- Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw LinkedIn Account
- Biocon Website
- Biocon YouTube Channel
Why You Should Watch This Podcast
If you are in the business of creating a company, a healthcare or bio-tech company, or just a woman who is trying to comprehend the potential of a nation the plight of Indian business, then this is a must watch episode. Mazumdar-Shaw has an incredible story to tell and she does so with a candor that can only be earned through the harsh realities of experience.
Conclusion
The Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw show on WTF is…is just a reminder that the most inspiring entrepreneurial stories are not necessarily loud ones. Biocon’s rise from that garage in Bengaluru to a biopharmaceuticals giant didn’t happen with a viral hit or a few quick funding rounds. It happened because of decades of steady, brave and committed progress.
That’s the lesson this episode will leave you with. And one you’d do well to sit with.
1. Who is Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw?
She is the Founder and Executive Chairperson of Biocon Limited, India’s largest biopharmaceutical company, which started in 1978 from a garage in Bengaluru.
2. What is the podcast about?
Topics included starting Biocon today from zero, practical difficulties as a female businessman in 1978, discussion about healthcare innovation and biosimilars, Indian ecosystem of entrepreneurs and her ideas on global role of biotechnology in India.
Watch Full Podcast Here:
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Podcast with Nikhil Kamath – Building a Billion-Dollar Business from Scratch
