In this episode of the #INSIGHTSPodcast series, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairperson and MD of Biocon, talks about starting up and her strategic shift to the biopharma industry, and gives young entrepreneurs advice on innovation, problem-solving, and mentorship.
We continue with the #INSIGHTSPodcast series and on this episode, we have with us Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairperson and Managing Director of Biocon.
A pioneer of the biotech industry in India and the head of the countryâs leading biotechnology enterprise, Kiran is a highly respected business leader and has been named among Time magazineâs 100 most influential people in the world. Sheâs a recognised global thought leader in biotechnology and has been awarded the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan, two of Indiaâs highest civilian honours.
Today, Biocon is one of Asiaâs largest biopharmaceutical companies â 12,000-people strong with 30 percent women, most of whom are scientists. It focuses on diabetes and cancer as thrust areas and has a vision of making global impact on healthcare by providing affordable access to life-saving drugs.
On this podcast, Kiran talks about her journey, building Biocon, how she started out, built a great team, and went on to take the company to IPO. She also shares insights on how founders can find a good work-life balance by prioritising what matters most to them.
Kiran calls herself an âaccidental entrepreneurâ, starting Biocon when she was discriminated against as a woman while applying for the job of a brewmaster. She set up Biocon in 1978, initially focusing on the enzyme industry, and made a strategic shift to the biopharmaceutical industry as it was a much bigger opportunity â riding the shift in cancer care from chemotherapy to immunotherapy.
Starting up at the age of 25, in a field that was not understood by many, raising capital was not an easy task. Especially at a time when a woman entrepreneur without collateral was considered a high financial and business risk. Hiring talent was another challenge. As Kiran started building her company, she aggressively pursued building the team, hiring people with complementary skills to form the core team, and incentivised them with rich stock options.
In 2004, Kiran did a lot of roadshows and went IPO, to raise capital for the business. She wasnât concerned about raising the value of the company, but made sure it was profitable in the last four quarters before going public and had clear visibility on profits in the foreseeable future. She says todayâs companies are topline-driven in contrast to her business that is âbottomline-drivenâ.
âTodayâs business models are different; theyâre very asset-light. Today, weâre in an idea economy. It is about how clever, innovative, differentiated your idea is. Innovation is all about taking that idea to the market and how you take it to the market,â she says.
Kiran talks about how the long gestation time from idea to market for biotech companies makes it challenging to sustain. She advises young biotech startups to focus on diagnostics- catching diseases early versus treating them at a later stage. Drawing from her personal experience, she shares how having a global market focus and a modular business strategy helped make money at every phase and put it back into the business.
On her personal growth, Kiran says she used her team as a think-tank and used her mentors to draw inspiration and for brainstorming.
âMentors in an entrepreneurâs journey should only help stay focused. I donât think any entrepreneur should keep going back to a mentor asking âwhat should I do nextâ? That is not entrepreneurship,â she says.
âEntrepreneurs need to script their own journey, figure out their own things, and solve problems. If you keep running back to your mentor at the drop of your hat, youâre not an entrepreneur. A true entrepreneur is a risk-taker, problem-solver, a person whoâs willing to face challenges and failure.â
Kiran says she encourages young entrepreneurs to not worry about making mistakes and see them as opportunities to learn. Adding to her advice, she urges them not to wait to develop the perfect product and to instead go to market first.
Continuing to reiterate how AI can help transform healthcare, she also gives her take on work-life balance. Kiran believes the answer to this question is only one: âPrioritisationâ.
Tune in to the podcast to hear more interesting insights from Kiranâs journey of launching and growing Biocon.
â Shrrinesh Bala & Anand Daniel