While apparel, footwear, home accessories, and other daily products were easily available online, there lacked a platform where one could buy designer wear or branded makeup products. Earlier, makeup and cosmetics were something women would buy only after checking them personally. This left many living in 3-tier or 2-tier cities deprived of branded products. Falguni Nayar – the CEO and founder of the beauty and lifestyle retail company Nykaa, was successful in bridging this gap. Today, she is a self-made billionaire who started this brand when she was 50.
Let us read more about her inspiring life and her amazing brand – Nykaa.
Early Life and Education
Hailing from a Gujarati family in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Falguni graduated from Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics and did her postgraduate from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. Her father had a small bearings company and her mother assisted her father in their family business.
Early Career
Falguni got her first job as a consultant with A.F. Ferguson & Co. She then bagged a job at Kotak Mahindra Group in 1993. She continued working there for 19 years. In 2005, she was appointed as the Managing Director of the company. In 2012, she exited because she wanted to do something else in her life.
The Turning Point
At the age of 50, after having served the Kotak Mahindra Group for quite a long and being at the helm of her career, she decided to quit her job and start something on her own. She was always passionate about beauty products and was aware that women living in 2-tier or 3-tier cities did not have the access to branded cosmetics or beauty products. She was wondering why not change the way women shopped for makeup products. With this idea, she launched Nykaa in 2012 after investing $2 million of her own money.
Falguni Nayar is one of those inspiring women in India, who took an extreme decision in her life at the age of 50. At an age when most people start planning their retirement, she had just begun. And How!!
Falguni has kept a close vigil on the growth of the online market while she was the managing director at Kotak Group. She was also quite passionate about makeup. When she saw the potential in makeup products in the online retail space, she decided to shift her career gears.
Nykaa skyrocketed within a short time and was worth $2.3 billion in 2021. Her personal fortune rose to around $1.1 billion, making her one of the few self-made women billionaires in India. By November 2012, Nykaa’s valuation grew to $13 billion, raising her net worth to $6.5 billion. Falguni Nayar has carved a niche for herself in the list of top 20 Indians by net worth.
Nykaa has curated more than 850 brands and offers 35,000 products from other brands. The company has also opened 17 physical stores in several Indian cities for those women who can only shop after they check the product. The Nykaa stores are divided into two categories – Nykaa Luxe and Nykaa on Trend. Nykaa Luxe sells high-end International and Indian beauty products, along with Nykaa’s in-house beauty products. Nykaa on Trend offers several popular market products.
Personal Life
She got married in 1987 to Sanjay Nayar, whom she met at business school. Sanjay Nayar is the CEO of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts India. They have two children, Adwaita and Anchit.
Interesting Tidbits from her Life
- Her love for makeup along with her instinct that India needs an online platform for wellness and cosmetic products, drove her to launch Nykaa. With her company, she was successful in bridging the gap between love for makeup and the way women in India shop for makeup products.
- Growing up, her family frequently discussed stock markets and trade facts that cemented her interest in entrepreneurship from a very young age.
- The thought of Nykaa was implanted into her mind long before she could start her venture. She was waiting for the right time.
Awards and Accolades
- Falguni Nayar was awarded the ‘Woman Ahead’ award at the Economic Times Startup Awards in 2017.
- She was awarded the Businesswoman of the Year at the Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence 2019.
- Falguni was listed as one of Asia’s Power Businesswomen 2019 by Forbes Asia
- She was named Businessperson of the Year 2019 by Vogue India.
- Nayar was recently awarded the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2019 – Start-up Award by Ernst and Young.
- She is also a board member of several companies like ACC, Dabur, Endurance, and Tata Technologies.
- It was difficult for her to quit her job at Kotak Group as ‘everything was going alright’. But she had given herself a self-imposed deadline of age 50 to try her luck at entrepreneurship.
- She believes in never giving up.
- Her son Anchit, a graduate of Columbia University heads the beauty e-commerce business, while her daughter Adwaita, an MBA from Harvard Business School, heads the fashion vertical.
Falguni Nayar is currently India’s richest woman, as per the IIFL Wealth Hurun India rich list 2022. She has a net worth of 38,700 crore INR and is at the 33rd spot in the top 100 billionaires list.
Nykaa is the unicorn that leaped the rainbow, it is every startup’s dream-come-true and every entrepreneur’s goal. The lady whose life just began at 50 has inspired thousands of startups in India today.
