How Falguni Nayar turned Nykaa into a beauty e-commerce giant

Falguni Nayar, founder and CEO of beauty e-commerce chain Nykaa, is a self-made businesswoman. She is one of the richest women in India, worth $3.1 billion (approximately Rs. 25,000 crore). Nayar quit her job to start Nykaa in 2012. Currently, thousands of brands can be sold online in 124 stores across India on the electronic platform.

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

Nayar completed her B.Com from Sydenham College and then her MBA from the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. She later joined Kotak Mahindra Bank as Managing Director, Capital Investments. Moving from working in banking to running a cosmetics brand was not an easy journey. She has been named to the Asian Women in Energy Business List. Vogue India also nominated her for the Businessperson of the Year 2019.

Born on February 19, 1963 in a Gujarati family in Mumbai, Falguni said in an interview that she was very afraid to leave her job. She said that when she told her son about leaving banking and starting her own business, he was a little shocked too. But in the end, she didn’t stop or get scared, and her family was also very supportive of her.

According to reports, Falguni Nair came up with the idea of ​​entering this particular business segment while visiting a multi-brand cosmetics store. Falguni believed that there was no one store where you could find everything related to beauty and cosmetics. She then created a similar store.

In an interview, she said that women need to stop thinking that if they work, it will affect their personal lives. She added that she is sure that if a woman with great determination wants to achieve something and sets herself a goal, she will achieve it regardless of the circumstances.