Kiran Mazumdar Shaw’s husband
John Shaw, former vice chairperson of Biocon Limited died on October 24,
2022. He was being treated for cancer for some time. Her mother Yamini
Mazumdar, also an entrepreneur, died of cancer this year.

The Indian
billionaire entrepreneur is the founder and executive chairperson of Biocon
Limited and Biocon Biologics Limited.

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Who
is Kiran Mazumdar Shaw?

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
was born to Gujarati parents, Rasendra Mazumdar and Yamini Mazumdar on March
23, 1953, in Bangalore, Karnataka. 

She studied at Bishop
Cotton Girl’s High School, Bangalore, and graduated in 1968. She received her
undergraduate degree in zoology from Bangalore University in 1973. Failing to
secure a scholarship, she wasn’t able to go to medical school.

Being the daughter of
a brewer Rasendra Mazumdar (head brewer at United Breweries), she was advised
to study fermentation science and went to Ballarat College, Melbourne
University in Australia to study brewing. She became a brewmaster with a degree
in 1975.

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She worked as a
trainee manager at Biocon, Biocon Biochemicals Limited. Leslie Auchincloss, the founder of Biocon Biochemicals
Limited, was looking for a partner to help him establish an
Indian subsidiary. Impressed by Mazumdar-Shaw’s skills, Auchincloss took her as
a partner in his new venture, Biocon India in 1978.

Within a year, Biocon
India was exporting enzymes to the United States and Europe, being the first Indian
company to do so. Mazumdar used her earnings to buy a 20-acre property with
plans of future expansion at the end of her first year.

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She was honoured with
Padma Shri in 1989 and Padma Bhushan in 2005. She was named EY World
Entrepreneur of the Year 2020 and EY Entrepreneur of the Year India 2019. 

She received the Order of
Australia in 2020. She also received ICMR’s Lifetime Achievement Award for
Outstanding Achievement in Healthcare in 2019. Knight of the National Order of
the French Legion of Honour was given to her in 2016. She is also a recipient
of the Othmer Gold Medal, received in 2014.

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She also holds
honorary doctorates from several prestigious universities, including Deakin
University (Victoria, Australia), Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh, UK),
University of Glasgow (Scotland, UK), University of Abertay, Dundee (Scotland,
UK), Ballarat University (Australia), Presidency University (Kolkata, India)
and Bennett University (Greater Noida, India).