{"id":"path/kiran-mazumdar-shaw","kind":"path","v":1,"title":"Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw","line":"The brewer no one would hire","aliases":[],"tags":["type:public","category:founder","career:biotech-researcher","career:entrepreneur"],"facts":[{"label":"Now","value":"Executive chairperson, Biocon","trust":"community","source":0},{"label":"Started from","value":"Bengaluru, Karnataka","trust":"community","source":0},{"label":"Turns","value":"8","trust":"community","source":0},{"label":"Kind of path","value":"Public figure, from public sources","trust":"community","source":0}],"data":{"id":"kiran-mazumdar-shaw","name":"Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw","initials":"KM","type":"public","headline":"The brewer no one would hire","now":"Executive chairperson, Biocon","from":"Bengaluru, Karnataka","careers":["biotech-researcher","entrepreneur"],"category":"founder","photo":{"url":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Kiran_Mazumdar-Shaw_HD2014_crop.jpg/500px-Kiran_Mazumdar-Shaw_HD2014_crop.jpg","width":400,"height":478,"author":"Sofia Negron (Science History Institute)","license":"CC BY-SA 3.0","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0","source":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kiran_Mazumdar-Shaw_HD2014_crop.jpg"},"sources":[{"label":"Public interviews and widely reported profiles; not affiliated or endorsed","trust":"community"},{"label":"Wikipedia: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiran_Mazumdar-Shaw","trust":"community"},{"label":"Science History Institute: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw","url":"https://sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/kiran-mazumdar-shaw","trust":"community"}],"turns":[{"id":"km1","kind":"study","title":"B.Sc Zoology","where":"Mount Carmel College, Bangalore University","year":"1973","how":"took","alsoOpen":[{"title":"Medical school","kind":"study","status":"out of reach","reason":"Could not get a scholarship"}]},{"id":"km2","kind":"study","title":"Master brewer's course","where":"Ballarat, Australia · the only woman; topped the class","year":"1974–75","how":"took","note":"Her father, a brewmaster at United Breweries, suggested it."},{"id":"km3","kind":"work","title":"Trainee brewer and maltster","where":"Melbourne, then Calcutta and Baroda","year":"1975–77","how":"took"},{"id":"km4","kind":"work","title":"No brewer's job in India","where":"Told it was a man's work","year":"late 1970s","how":"detour","note":"Breweries would not hire a woman as master brewer.","reroute":{"risk":"No brewery would hire a woman as master brewer","level":"high","move":"reroute","options":[{"label":"Brewing in India","note":"Told it was a man's work"},{"label":"Start Biocon India","taken":true,"note":"In a rented garage, 1978"}]}},{"id":"km5","kind":"work","title":"Founds Biocon India","where":"A rented garage · ₹10,000","year":"1978","how":"took","note":"A joint venture with an Irish enzymes firm. Her first hire was a retired garage mechanic."},{"id":"km6","kind":"money","title":"First funding","where":"A banker met at a social event; ICICI venture fund in 1987","year":"1980s","how":"took","note":"Early on, she could not raise money."},{"id":"km7","kind":"money","title":"Biocon IPO","where":"India's first biotech IPO · 33x subscribed","year":"2004","how":"took"},{"id":"km8","kind":"work","title":"Executive chairperson","where":"Biocon","year":"now","how":"now"}]},"links":[{"rel":"career","id":"career/biotech-researcher"},{"rel":"career","id":"career/entrepreneur"}],"sources":[{"label":"Public interviews and widely reported profiles; not affiliated or endorsed","trust":"community","method":"listed"},{"label":"Wikipedia: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiran_Mazumdar-Shaw","trust":"community","method":"listed"},{"label":"Science History Institute: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw","url":"https://sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/kiran-mazumdar-shaw","trust":"community","method":"listed"}],"trust":"community","origin":"dataset","asOf":"2026-10-15","digest":"sha256:a20d63ad0635ece469a696983770a9b45ec72e5d041d1a2e2810edc62a05c529"}