How Falguni Nayar Built Nykaa Into A Beauty E-Commerce Giant

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Falguni Nayar was listed as one of Asia's power businesswomen and was nominated as Business Person of the Year in 2019.

Falguni Nayar, founder and CEO of the beauty e-commerce chain Nykaa, is a self-made businesswoman. She is one of the richest women in India, with a net worth of 3.1 billion dollars (approximately 25 thousand crore). Nayar quit her job to start Nykaa in 2012. Today, the e-platform sells thousands of brands online through 124 stores across India.

Nykaa is backed by American private equity giant TPG Growth Company, as well as billionaires Harsh Mariwala and Harry Banga. Nair’s husband, Sanjay Nair, is the India CEO of private equity giant KKR. Her twin daughter and son also work for the beauty brand. She has won several awards, including the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2019 – Start-up by Ernst & Young and the Businesswoman of the Year award at the Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence, 2019.

Nayar did her B.Com from Sydenham College and then did her MBA from the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Later, she joined Kotak Mahindra Bank as a Capital Investment Managing Director. Going from a banking job to running a beauty brand was not an easy journey. She was listed as one of Asia’s Power Businesswomen. Vogue India has also nominated her as Business Person of the Year, 2019.

Born on February 19, 1963, in a Gujarati family in Mumbai, Falguni said in an interview that she was very scared about leaving her job. She said that when she told her son about leaving the banking job and starting her own company, he was also a little shocked. But ultimately, she neither stopped nor got scared, and her family also supported her a lot in this.

According to reports, Falguni Nair got the idea of entering this special segment of business while visiting a multi-brand beauty product store. Falguni felt that there is no single store where one can find everything related to beauty and cosmetics. Then she created a similar store.

In her interview, she said that women need to get out of the mindset that if they work, then their personal lives will be affected. She added that she is sure that if a woman wants to achieve something with strong determination and makes it her aim, then she will achieve it under any circumstances.