FALGUNI NAYAR
Falguni Nayar
This is the story of Nykaa and its founder Falguni Nayar, displaying the true meaning of
women empowerment.
Falguni Sanjay Nayar was born on February 19th, 1963. She is a notable entrepreneur and
top-woman achiever in the banking industry. Falguni’s Alma Mater is the Indian Institute of
Management, Ahmedabad, where she pursued an MBA in Finance. She was working as a
management consultant at A.F. Ferguson & Co. Falguni has tremendous experience of 18
years. She was in the position of a Managing director at the Kotak Mahindra.
I wanted to stand for those women who want to be beautiful for themselves, not for men or
other women!” – Words of Falguni Nayar
There is a lady who adores beauty products and loves doing makeup. She left her career
from being an MD for a notable bank, at an unbelievable age of 51, only for the drive to do
something small but what she likes. To address the beauty needs of women, she started
Nykaa in 2012 with no prior experience in retail, beauty or technology. She was just a few
months shy of turning 50 then.
Building on her experience as a banker, Nayar has created a capital-efficient and asset-light
business model. has over 26 years of experience in e-commerce, investment banking and
broking. She founded Nykaa in 2012 & created an app to order makeup and hair-care
products during a time when women visited stores for the same. The start-up since grew to
become the country's leading beauty retailer. Nykaa went on to become a top company
endorsed by celebrities and its social media friendly-ness also helped it along by leaps and
bounds. Nykaa also opened their own line of beauty products as well as selling products of
other companies on their platform. Nykaa is currently the leading unicorn in the market and
keeps growing with potential. The company has a diverse portfolio of beauty, personnel
care, and fashion products, including its own manufactured brand products, under its two
business verticals - Nykaa Fashion. And now, she is the Chief Executive Officer of the ever-
trending eCommerce portal ‘Nykaa’, with a net worth of Rs.1,200 crore, raising the
standards of Indian beauty.
She faced some roadblocks in the business, with the employees, at the time she was trying
to expand her company. Due to the immense work pressure, the employee’s strength and
teamwork crumbled. That was the time when her daughter had just completed her
graduation and she came back to India. She joined the business to help her mother which
had a positive impact on the company’s growth. Nykaa gained popularity because of the
wide range of brands they have brought to the Indian markets like Huda Beauty, Charlotte
Tilbury, Bobbi Brown, Elie Saab, Farsali, etc, which were very hard to find before. Thanks to
the unique collection and clever marketing techniques, Nykaa has never experienced a
downfall. They use both online and offline marketing strategies, as well as Influencer
marketing as the customers. Relate to other people talking about Nykaa’s products and
praising them than seeing an advertisement on television. They focus on customer
satisfaction just like a good brand should do and keep expanding their inventory.
When I think about being inspired by someone, there is the concept of being inspired to be
like someone. There have been so many awesome women in my life who have inspired me.
It is difficult to pick just one to write about. Many industry leaders inspire me, but I would
have to say that my inspiration comes from Falguni Nayar, likes she tells young women that
they need to make themselves the centre of their lives. She wants every girl and every
woman to pursue their dreams and not overthink societal norms. She wants women to take
their dreams seriously. Make success their priorities and work hard towards achieving their
goals. This way of thinking has greatly attributed to my success in future. My concept of
success was being in control of my own destiny and providing value to others. I am so
grateful for her presence in my life. Because knowing her helped me see what was and
wasn’t holding value for me. I had no desire to climb the corporate ladder and become
some other version of myself because that is what was expected of me. I had no desire to be
unhappy with my life just so I could get a paycheck. This woman inspires me to keep on
going through adversity and to love unconditionally. She inspires me to be the best version
of myself that I can be, to tap into my creative spirit and most of all to love and care for
others.
