Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (born 23 March 1953) is an Indian billionaire entrepreneur.She is the chairperson and managing director of Biocon Limited, a biotechnology company based in Bangalore, India and the chairperson of Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.In 2014, she was awarded the Othmer Gold Medal, for outstanding contributions to the progress of science and chemistry.She is on the Financial Times’ top 50 women in business list. In 2015, she was listed as the 85th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes. Forbes again listed her in 2016 and 2017 – the most powerful women in the world at 77th and 71st position respectively.

Before Mazumdar could move, she met Leslie Auchincloss, founder of Biocon Biochemicals Limited, of Cork, Ireland. Auchincloss’s company produced enzymes for use in the brewing, food-packaging and textile industries. Auchincloss was looking for an Indian entrepreneur to help establish an Indian subsidiary.^:154 Mazumdar agreed to undertake the job on the condition that if she did not wish to continue after six months she would be guaranteed a brewmaster’s position comparable to the one she was giving up.

Mazumdar spearheaded Biocon’s evolution from an industrial enzymes manufacturing company to a fully integrated bio-pharmaceutical company with a well-balanced business portfolio of products and a research focus on diabetes, oncology and auto-immune diseases. She also established two subsidiaries: Syngene (1994) which provides early research and development support services on a contract basis and Clinigene (2000) which focuses on clinical research trials and the development of both generic and new medicines. Clinigene was later merged with Syngene. Syngene was listed on BSE/NSE in 2015 and has a current market cap of US$1.15 billion.

• Mazumdar-Shaw, India’s richest self-made woman, founded India’s largest biopharmaceutical firm in 1978.
• The firm has successfully forayed into the lucrative US biosimilars market, catching the attention of investors and creating a surge in market cap.
• Biocon became the first company to gain approval from the USFDA for two different biosimilars of drugs used in certain cancer treatments.
• She’s invested in research infrastructure and scientific talent with the aim of building a deep R&D-based biotech firm, not a copycat generics maker.
• Her philanthropic initiative, The Mazumdar Shaw Medical Centre, aims to create a sustainable, affordable cancer care model.(forbes)