True Grit: The phenomenal growth of the Indian entrepreneurial spirit
From JRD Tata to Dhirubhai Ambani and Sanjeev Bikhchandani, how entrepreneurs helped India through its transition from an agrarian economy to state-controlled industry and on to an era where unicorns have taken the centrestage
By: Madhu Kapparath
After graduating in zoology from Bangalore University in 1973, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw went to Ballarat University in Melbourne, Australia, and qualified as a master brewer. Mazumdar-Shaw started as a trainee brewer in Carlton & United Beverages, and joined Biocon Biochemicals in Ireland as trainee manager in 1978. In the same year, she founded Biocon India in collaboration with Biocon Biochemicals, with a capital of ₹10,000. Banks were hesitant to give her loans as biotechnology was a a new field and she was a woman. Mazumdar-Shaw brought in biotech research and clinical trials from overseas firms and made Biocon into India’s biggest biotechnology company.
