IN CONVERSATION

First generation biotech entrepreneur; healthcare visionary; passionate philanthropist; global influencer; a technologist at heart… at 25, she founded what is India’s largest biotech company today Biocon. A Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan recipient, she started her company in a garage in Bengaluru, Karnataka, with Rs.10,000 in 1978. Today, she has built Biocon into a multi-billion dollar company. She is India’s most respected healthcare entrepreneur. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Executive Chairperson, Biocon Limited, shared her life’s lessons with Kiran Bedi, Lt. Governor, Puducherry, and anchor Saina Bharucha on their web show ‘Baatcheet’ from Demonstrative Learning. Corporate Citizen brings you the fascinating facets of their conversation

Kiran Bedi: Kiran, what is the secret, the energy, behind ‘Kiran’?

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw: It is the bond that you and I both share wanting to make a difference! Like you, I have always been passionate about living and leading my life with a sense of purpose.

Saina Bharucha: From the time you were a young girl, you wanted to pursue a career…

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw: Yes, it’s true and my late father supported me every step of the way. He encouraged me to put my education to good, constructive and societal use. He always felt that education not used for the growth of self, one’s country and the world, is education wasted. And he never differentiated between my brothers and me.

I did my Zoology Honours and told my father I wanted to do Applied Science. I asked him what he thought I should pursue as a career and he told me to become a brewmaster, as he was one. I thought the idea was crazy as I felt brewing wasn’t a career for women! But my father told me that there should not be a gender difference when it comes to opportunities. He told me not to look at this avenue as brewing, beer and alcohol! But to look at it as biotechnology a fermentation science which could be used for anything.

My father then persuaded me to go to Australia and study this stream of science. I was the only woman doing the course and I topped my class! I came back very confident and was sure all the breweries in India would want to employ me! But I was in for a rude shock. All the breweries I applied to were not willing to give me a job as it called for supposedly very un-feminine ways of working going to the workplace in the middle of the night if there was a breakdown in the brewing process, or starting work at 5 a.m. They were very apologetic about this gender bias and I was very, very disappointed.

I then applied for a job overseas and I got it. But before I left, I met John Shaw, a biotech entrepreneur. He had heard of me while I was in Australia and tracked me down. He wanted to start a biotech enzymes company in India and asked me to partner him.

Bedi: So, what did you do?

I was not convinced about joining him… I was 25, had no money or experience, plus those were not the days of startups and entrepreneurship was a difficult career choice. But he was adamant and I finally agreed!

Bharucha: Despite society’s gender mindset, you turned into one of the biggest entrepreneurs…

Anyone can start a business. It’s about an idea shaping that idea and cooking that idea to a commercial endpoint. Hence, opportunities must be given to women to pursue roles beyond the home. And it’s good that many of us women have realised that we don’t need to be confined to space. There’s no lakshman rekha that stops us from going forward!

Bedi: Tell us about your business.

I had certain objectives and goals of starting a business. I looked upon getting into the business of enzymes as an opportunity to reduce the pollution from chemical industrial processes. My goal was to replace them with eco-friendly technology processes. My mission was to green the industrial world.

Another guiding mission was to make my company an exciting place for women scientists because I realised that a very large number of women scientists had taken a sabbatical. I firmly believe we cannot waste knowledge and talent. I wanted these stay-at-home women scientists to work with me. I have always encouraged my HR to work out a nice work-life balance for everyone.

"We have a 12,000+ workforce today and our average percentage of women scientists is approximately 35% currently"

Bedi: You have a lot of women scientists working in your company…

When I started my company, 60% of my scientists were women. But once the company grew larger, we couldn’t get so many women scientists to match our needs. We have a 12,000+ workforce today and our average percentage of women scientists is approximately 35% currently. Also, when you look at hiring experienced personnel, the male:female ratio gets skewed in favour of men because many women take a career break. But we are trying to bring women scientists into the mainstream. I mentor, guide and encourage many young women and men. I’ve realised that men hide their diffidence, whereas women show it. Men, even when they are feeling diffident, only show that they are confident. Women too should learn not to show their diffidence even when things are tough. I never show my diffidence. Women should understand their strengths; they should learn to speak their minds… because not speaking your mind is a weakness.

Dr Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw with the Othmer Gold Medal

Bharucha: You and my mother Kiran Bedi have always chosen your own paths…

Every day you learn something new and once you learn something new, you want to do things differently and you then evolve. Running your own business has its own set of challenges. But overcoming those challenges gives you strength and the courage to go on… to something more daring, something riskier. An entrepreneur’s path is a risk-taking path. You have to make judgment calls. Some of the calls you make might not be the right calls, and you might fail. But you should not worry because life is about making mistakes and learning from those mistakes.

Bedi: Tell us about your parents and how they impacted your life…

Parental support is very important for children to flower. When parents support both their sons and daughters, it makes a very big difference to society. I give my parents credit for instilling the value of philanthropy in me. I remember how my parents always told me how privileged I was… and encouraged me to reach out to those not as fortunate as myself. In the early ‘60s during the Indo-China war, my friends and I went around collecting funds and groceries for our jawans and even put up a concert in the neighbourhood to help raise funds for them. I was always taught to think of others, not just myself.

I must tell you this… my father refused to pay the capitation fee of Rs.10,000 to buy me a medical seat at Davangere Medical College, Karnataka, even though I was desperate to go to medical school. He taught me the basic principle of money, which is ‘Money must never be used to buy favours, but it must be used to make a difference’.

Thanks to my father, I set up my business without bribing anybody. I met Mr Vishwas, an upright Government officer, from the Industries Department who helped me with the entire process. I have always had faith in the Government and built Biocon without compromising on my value system. If you want to corrupt people, go ahead. But if you don’t bribe your way through, your work will still get done and you will feel very good about it too. People do tell me that if I don’t pay speed money, my work will go slow. But I’m in no hurry!

As for my mother, back when I was working on setting up Biocon, she drove me all around Delhi for my work-related appointments and sat in the Government office corridors while I went in for my meetings. Once the meetings were done, she would drive me off for channa chaat, ice cream etc. Today, my mother is almost 90 and an entrepreneur in her own right. She runs a laundry service that employs 40 people. (Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw’s mother now joins the chat)

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw’s Mother: This is only due to Kiran’s encouragement. She is my pillar of strength, plus a very hardworking girl. She studied and worked well and put her education to good use. I have seen Kiran going through good and bad phases and she has handled herself very well throughout. She is a very strong headed girl and has made me very proud. To all the mothers in the world I say: Support your children, give them a good education and then it’s up to them to prove themselves.

Bharucha: You always aim to make a difference!

We must make a difference. I’m very interested in policy transformation, reforms and better governance. Mr Mohandas Pai, Mr Jairaj and I have formed Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) which is focused on getting better civic sense and governance. We are galvanising young people to take charge and make a difference in our society. We even moved the court to get rid of the ugly flex banners that were an eyesore and polluting Bengaluru.

Bedi: What does it mean to you to be a billionaire?

I very humbly accept all the recognitions I have got and continue to get. But for me, it’s all about making a societal impact. I am very proud of the fact that I started my company with Rs.10,000 and today the company has a USD 7 billion market cap. All you need is the application of knowledge and technology to develop something that society needs. For me, it is not about the money, it is about the value creation matrix that we are judging ourselves by. Failure is temporary, but giving up is final. Don’t fear failure. Endure and ensure that you get to the finish line.

Bharucha: You always speak about ‘foolish courage’. What does it mean?

When you are young and want to do something, you go after it because of your conviction… even though you don’t really know how tough that task is going to be. And when you do achieve that goal, in hindsight, you wonder whether you actually did take that risk and marvel at how it worked! Now, this is what I call foolish courage.

Entrepreneurship is all about foolish courage because everything is unknown, yet we take the risk and follow our passion. But no matter what, we must all build and establish our credibility. Always remember that only if you are credible, you are taken seriously.

"Entrepreneurship is all about foolish courage because everything is unknown, yet we take the risk and follow our passion"

Bedi: Tell us about your company producing insulin.

All the pharmaceutical companies across the world are only proud of their billion-dollar blockbuster drugs. But I always ask, must we be proud of the billion dollars we have earned or the billion people we have served? Why are you so fixated on the money? Fixate on the patients you have to serve. We are a humanitarian industry, yet pharmaceutical companies make their money only by increasing the prices of their drugs. But I want to create affordable access to essential medicines.

Our journey into the world of biopharmaceuticals started with insulin. India was the world’s diabetes capital and as a biotech company, I decided to make insulin affordable. Today, I’m really happy to say that we are the lowest cost producer of insulin in the world. Our insulin is sold in over 100 countries. In India, ever since we started producing insulin in 2004, the cost of insulin has come down to one-tenth of what it was. But it is still a problem in developing countries and last year at the UN General Assembly, I made a pledge that Biocon would provide insulin at 10 cents a day to any low/middle income country that needs it. We are a success in this sphere because it is a noble mission.

Bedi: You have done a lot of research on the affordable healthcare and cancer care that you provide.

People can’t afford cancer therapy. When I wanted to start my philanthropic journey in a big way, I went and met Dr Devi Shetty because I knew what a marvellous job he had done with affordable cardiac care. I asked him if he could do something similar with cancer care. He said he could if I built a hospital. So we built the Mazumdar Shaw Medical Centre as a 1,000 bed hospital as we needed scale to provide affordable healthcare. I’m very proud of what Dr Shetty has done in making a huge difference in speciality care and cancer care. We have one of the largest bone marrow transplant units in the country. Dr Shetty works hard to ensure that the whole ethos of the hospital is about humanity and caring for the sick. We have also set up Arogya Raksha where people invest Rs.100 a year in our hospital, and they get free treatment for any disease.

Bharucha: Moving into a completely different space - you love art and have a beautiful art collection.

I have been interested in painting since my childhood. My love for art grew tremendously thanks to my good friend artist Yusuf Arakkal and MF Husain, another dear friend. Arakkal taught me a lot about the process of painting and we spent happy times discussing art and creativity. As for Husain, though initially, I couldn’t afford his art, I did buy his paintings later, while he was still living. He also gifted me many small sketches which I deeply treasure… My Scottish husband John Shaw loves art too and we have a treasure trove of paintings collected over the years. Our collection includes artworks by Indian and Scottish painters, among others.

Bharucha: You are known to stand by your friends…

We make friendships throughout our lives… Every friendship has meant something special at that particular time, and you should never forget that. I’m very loyal to my family and friends. I know some of my friends don’t have the right social perception today because of things they have done. But I forgive them and remain in touch with them… I grew up with Vijay Mallya… I know he did something wrong and is remorseful about it, and that’s why I forgive him. I will never give up my friends – we are always there for each other. Be it Devi Shetty, Narayana Murthy’s wife Sudha and son Rohan, Azim Premji, Rohini and Nandan Nilekani.

Bharucha: We now have a surprise for you…

Claire Mazumdar: I have been fortunate to be surrounded by incredible women my entire life starting with my grandmother who is the original entrepreneur of our family. She started her business at the tender age of 70. As she approaches her 90th birthday, she still stubbornly goes to the office every day despite the pandemic. Then there is my mother who has spent her entire career in the field of electrical engineering and is a noted professor in her own right. She taught me that I could achieve anything I put my mind to. But it is Kiran who has been my guiding light in my career and ambitions. She has instilled in me a sense of responsibility to the field of healthcare and biotech, and to do so with the patient in mind. Kiran and I have always been close; we look so alike that people often mistake me for her daughter! I’ve spent some of my favourite vacations exploring the world with Kiran by my side. But I think as I have entered the world of biotech and set out my own path for my entrepreneurial journey, we have become even closer. Now that I’m in a leadership role myself, I’m constantly in awe of what she has been able to achieve during a time when I think it was exceedingly difficult to build a global-minded company as a woman, and even more specifically as a woman from India. She has built a successful company driven by the values of doing right by the patient by providing innovative, life-saving medicines in an affordable manner.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw: My niece is someone I’m so, so proud of! She is an amazing woman herself and what she just said brought tears to my eyes. And let me tell you, her younger brother Eric, my nephew, is amazing too! He wrote a beautiful essay on ‘My Heroes Are Women’ when he got into MIT (he’s now finishing his PhD in Artificial Intelligence at Berkeley). In the essay, he wrote about his grandmother, his mother, his sister and his aunt me! A brilliant young man and I’m so proud of him!