- $4 is one of the world's most prestigious events which will be live from Oct 19-23.
- While nobel laureates, some of the biggest political and corporate icons will provide thought leadership, it's a great platform to network with CXOs from around the world.
- $4 is presented by $4$4.
- Register for the
Global Trends Festival $4$4.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is India's richest self-made woman. She started Biocon at the age of 25 and has built it up into the country's largest pharmaceutical company. Her journey to the top was no easy task, but Shaw is known for her thinking and vision. Shaw could foresee the potential and opportunity in the biotech space, and she capitalised on it.
Shaw calls herself an "accidental entrepreneur." She wanted to become India's first woman brewmaster. When those plans met with resistance in India, she set her sights on the industrial enzyme-producing business and marched on to conquer the biopharma space in the 90s. In 2014, Biocon was India's first biotech company to go public, and it hit the $4 on the day it listed. There has been no looking back since.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw believes that women play an essential role in economic development, and their contribution has been ignored for a long time. "It's a myth to think that women are not bold enough to run daring businesses. It's a myth that all of us have busted time. So, I'm really surprised that the world still doesn't get it," she told $4in an interview earlier this year.
A pioneer of the biotech industry in India, Shaw has been conferred upon with Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan. She believes that entrepreneurship is not about making the moolah but having a purpose, and one must always think about giving back to society. In fact, Shaw can tell the Covid-19 story as a survivor and a healer. After all, she has the first-hand experience — as the 67-year old tested positive in mid-August and recovered by the end of the month. And her $7 billion company, Biocon's repurposed drug, Itolizumab, is used to treat the dreaded virus for emergency cases. However, the drug is not a part of the government's clinical management protocol for COVID-19 treatment yet.
At the Global Trends Festival 2020, Shaw will share insights on why entrepreneurs must be risk-takers, her journey as a businesswoman, and unlocking India's suppressed potential.
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