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.