'No biz experience, Rs 10,000 in bank': How Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw struggled to start Biocon

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, founder of Bengaluru-based biotechnology company Biocon, is not only one of the most successful women entrepreneurs in the country but also a billionaire who has won innumerable accolades and degrees for her contribution to the Indian industry. However, things were not always like this. As a woman entrepreneur, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw faced a lot of roadblocks on her way to build her billion-dollar company. 

In an interview with Nikhil Kamath on his podcast, ‘WTF is with Nikhil Kamath’ Mazumdar-Shaw laid it all out. In the episode titled ‘Who is Kiran Mazumdar Shaw Really? And WTF is Biotech?’, the Biocon founder said that it was “foolish courage” that led her to start the biotech company when she was 25. 

“I was 25 years old, I was a young woman, I had no business experience, I had Rs 10,000 in my bank and I was trying to start a strange business called biotech which nobody understood. And I was high-risk in the eyes of everyone that I had to meet, starting with bankers. Bankers didn’t want to touch me. I just wanted a credit line and in those days, there was no venture funding…it was debt finance. I wanted a loan and I wanted a credit line. I found it impossible because of all the reasons I just mentioned,” she said. 

Mazumdar-Shaw said that bankers would very often tell her that her guarantee would not suffice and that her father would have to give a guarantee. “I said my father had nothing to do with my business, so on principle I don’t think he should give you a guarantee. If you can accept a guarantee from a male entrepreneur, why not me? Those were the days when there was such a strong gender bias,” she elaborated. 

She said that another formidable roadblock she found was hiring people. “People didn’t want to work for a woman. I found it very difficult to hire people. So, my first two employees were retired tractor mechanics who needed a job desperately. It didn’t matter to them whether it was a man or a woman hiring,” she said. 

However, she eventually was able to get the brightest minds to join her company. “I therefore consider myself, really, the first startup in the country,” she added. 

The Biocon founder said that she started her company in her garage and frugally. 

She said that she was helped by an Irish guy in providing funds for the company. “The Irish guy had given me a buyback guarantee for the products I make. He hadn’t really invested much. And I was too proud, I wanted to build it myself. He gave me a guarantee buyback and he gave me an advance payment for buying those enzymes when I make them. He gave me a cheque…I mean I had Rs 10,000 in the bank. He gave me a draft for 10,000 pounds in 1978, which was quite a lot of money,” said Shaw. 

The Irish guy had sought her help in establishing a company in India. He had a biotech company in Ireland that developed enzyme techniques. 

The Biocon founder said that she took the pounds sterling draft to the bank and asked them for a credit line against that advance payment. “They didn’t understand my business. So, despite having all that, they found it difficult to give me a credit line,” she said.

However, one banker from Canara Bank listened to her and promised her a credit line that enabled her to start Biocon. She said she always banks with Canara Bank even today because of that. 

Mazumdar-Shaw said that she gradually started interacting with IIT students who asked her for enzymes for experiments. Some asked her advice on which university to join. “I said why don’t you join me. And they got quite excited and then they joined me,” added Mazumdar Shaw.

She was eventually featured in the cover of a couple of magazines, including India Today. People reached out to her based on the cover stories. “This was the early 80s and that’s when I started getting young professionals and young engineers from IITs reaching out to me. I formed this core group of young, well-educated professionals,” she said. 

Meanwhile, Nikhil Kamath, host of the podcast and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, pledged a combined Rs 50 lakh to charity. 

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