Bengaluru: Myth Breaker: Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and the Story of Indian Biotech, by longtime journalist Seema Singh, was launched amidst at a small, elegant gathering at The Park on Thursday evening.
Shaw and Singh found themselves crowded in equal measure, by a flurry of autograph-seekers, most of them old friends including Dr Devi Shetty, Ritu Mallya, Saad Jung and advertising scion Bunty Peerbhoy and his wife Sadhika.
Shaw's mother, Yamini Mazumdar did the honours and released the book.
Audiences learned, through an anecdote provided by Singh, that Yamini became an entrepreneur at the age of 68.
"She applied for a factory space and was told that at her age, she should be singing bhajans," recalled Singh. "She simply said, 'If Vajpayee can run the country at his age, I can run a factory!"
Shaw, who emphasised that the spotlight belongs to Seema Singh described her advent into Biotechnology as 25-year old woman who was unemployed and broke.
"That's when I met the man who would become my first business partner - he said those are all the things an entrepreneur should be!"
Dealing with an ecosystem that has remained hostile to entrepeneurship, since Shaw founded Biocon 38 years ago, has meant "a battle everyday," she said. "We are held back by policy and regulation, products made in India for the world are still not accepted in their country of manufacture! India needs to enable the business of science."
Singh, former bureau chief of Forbes India and MacArthur grant awardee, said the process involved two years and over 200 interviews. "I told her she should stay with journalism just to be safe, but she insisted that the time had come for her to write a book," said Shaw, recalling that fateful evening in July 2014 when the idea for the book first arose.
"Chronicling the growth of an industry is a difficult subject to make interesting, but when I received the first draft, I couldn't put it down. It will appeal to every entrepreneur."
