Falguni Nayar
It is exquisitely said by an American media executive, talk show host, and actress, Oprah Winfrey, “Listen to the rhythm of your own calling and follow that.” This suits appropriately in the case of Falguni Nayar. Nayar has always admired the idea of being an entrepreneur and while growing up into a successful businesswoman, she did justice to her burning desire of setting foot in the entrepreneurial world.
Former investment banker, Falguni Nayar is the CEO and founder of the leading Indian Beauty Portal, Nykaa. Nykaa was founded in 2012 after Nayar left her Managing Director’s position at Kotak Mahindra Capital. She spent almost two decades in the banking sector.
Being an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, Nayar is a savvy businesswoman and veteran of investment banking. Her expertise and in-depth knowledge in the subject of banking finance have boosted the progress of India’s first multi-brand beauty retailer to a great extent in its initial phase itself.
A major part of the rural demography of India has restricted exposure to digital platforms. However, with the increasing influence of E-commerce, the tables are turning rapidly in the favor of digital media and the number of its users is proliferating. Also, there were no such legit online retail websites that congregate beauty and body goodies and their data. Combining these two factors, Nayar introduced this fabulous feminine collection online store to gratify the female population of India and other countries of the world.
Considering the cosmetic demands of women from all backgrounds in India, the company targeted young and mid aged women and created an aggregated platform that provides all sorts of beauty products from multiple brands. The brand has its own range of beauty products and also intends to include intensive body care products on the portal soon.
Today Nykaa is a success story because of its customers. In spite of naysayers, the highly empowered entrepreneur inside her always pushed her through the unnerving advice pondering around her.
Falguni Nayar is assertive and highly confident about the future of her brand in terms of funding and financial turnovers as she has had exposure to fundraising and doing IPOs in her former profession. Nykaa has raised crores of endowments since its beginning and has never felt the need for international funding so far. Being a start-up, the CEO wishes the company to be built on its own foundation.
Falguni Nayar did not stop just there. Having stabilized the brand’s hold over the online portal, Falguni Nayar opened stores in malls and airports which is still a work in progress. Achieving the set target and relaxing after its completion is not her mantra.
Being a retailer at birth, Nykaa has a full range of products like nail polishes and lipsticks. With the pace with which the brand is moving forward, new products are undeniably expected to launch.
The online cosmetic portal has tie-ups with globally leading cosmetic brands and is a globally recognized brand itself. With Nayar’s tremendous enthusiasm and concrete ideologies about business, Nykaa is definitely going to showcase many more benchmarking achievements in the cosmetic industry in the coming future.
