Against All Odds: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Executive Chairperson, Biocon, And 2020 EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Executive Chairperson, Biocon on what needs to be done to get more women into leadership roles in the business world.

By Tamara Pupic

You're reading Entrepreneur Middle East, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.

Staged in partnership with du, Against All Odds is an Entrepreneur Middle East Live webinar series that features enterprising women who have risen above personal and professional challenges to develop solutions, launch businesses, and lead global initiatives that make them inspirational role models around the world.

In this edition of Against All Odds, we speak to Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Executive Chairperson, Biocon, who is globally recognized for building a company that is committed to innovation and affordability in delivering best-in-class therapeutics to patients across the globe. She has been named EY World Entrepreneur of the Year 2020, while her accolades also include being ranked among "World's 25 Most Influential People in Biopharma" by Fierce Biotech, Fortune's "Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Asia-Pacific" and Forbes' "World's 100 Most Powerful Women," as well as the only Indian on its list of "World's Self-Made Women Billionaires."

When asked about what needs to be done to have more women in leadership roles in the business world, Mazumdar-Shaw has this piece of advice to share for men in positions of power: "Ï always push my male colleagues by telling them, 'Let me see how many female leaders you can create,' because having more women in leadership is required. There's no point in having one token women. I think that that tokenism has to go. If you can seriously respect and include women who are capable of showing leadership, then I think we will have women playing very important roles. I feel that men should focus on asking how they can truly develop women into leadership roles, because it doesn't happen easily."

Click on the video to hear more from Mazumdar-Shaw.

Related: Against All Odds: Suzanne Al Houby, The First Arab Woman To Climb Mount Everest And The Seven Summits

Tamara Pupic

Entrepreneur Staff

Managing Editor, Entrepreneur Middle East

Tamara Pupic is the Managing Editor of Entrepreneur Middle East.

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