Page 14 - 10 Futuristic Women Entrepreneurs in India 2022

COVER STORY
HOW DID FALGUNI NAYAR
STAND OUT FROM THE
CROWD?
Nykaa, in its early years, was funded entirely by
Falguni Nayar and her husband Sanjay Nayar. The
focus was on building an inventory-led business. Her
company ran on family funds for almost two years.
The company turned unicorn only in March
2020, after just five rounds of funding—of
which only three involved institutional inves-
tors. Nykaa is also considered to be most prof-
itable startups among its contemporaries
When Nykaa founder Falguni Nayar took the
entrepreneurial plunge in 2012, she was pushing
fifty with about twenty years of experience as an
investment banker. Nearly a decade later, she has
listed her startup at a valuation higher than those
of some of the biggest legacy businesses in India.
In the process, she has become the wealth-
iest self-made woman in India, is among the
country’s 20 richest people, and worth more
than her peers who have either listed their
startups or are in the process of doing so.
14| Thecorporatereview.com | India | Vol. 3 | Issue 1 | January 2022
EARLY DAYS
An IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, she worked as
a venture investor and merchant with Kotak
Mahindra Group for around 20 years. After working
for the group’s global operations in the US and
UK, she headed the institutional equities divi-
sion. 2005 saw her as the managing director of
the venture saving money business of the group.
In April 2012, leaving her ‘ideal’ life behind,
she gave herself the risky tag – CEO of Nykaa.
She observed the online market and its growth
in India. The choice of the beauty segment
came both from her love for make-up
and the potential online market waiting for
someone to come up with such a platform.
She headquartered her company in Mumbai,
where she was born and brought up. Seeing her
father run a small bearings business, she knew she
had it in her to become an entrepreneur and apart
from that stock market and trade were a common
discussion in her house during the growing years.
While the idea and the dream to be an entrepreneur
lived inside her, Nykaa happened when Falguni
Nayar had some spare time on her hands, after her
children left for their studies to the US. With a dead-
line of 50 (which was self-imposed), the one-woman
army took a leap of faith and quit her job at Kotak,
Bridging the gap and changing the way women
shop, she has successfully curated more than ADVICE
850 brands and 35,000 products. The company
also has its presence in many cities with 17 stores
across India. There are two store formats – Nykaa “Any entrepreneur-
Luxe and Nyka On Trend. Luxe has Indian and inter-
national beauty brands along with Nykaa Beauty, ship needs a lot of
the in-house beauty products collection, and On passion, hard work,
Trend is a collection of popular market products. conviction, and time.
The young yet super successful online beauty
company has a target audience in the age group When I started, if I
of 22 – 35, and has also launched private labeled
thought I would be
products in the bath and body care category, in
here in three years or
March 2016. Working in an inventory based model,
Nykaa has warehouses in Mumbai, New Delhi and five years, it wouldn’t
Bangalore, and offers all leading brands including
Kaya Skin Clinic, Lakmé, L’Oréal Paris and more. happen. It needs long
Falguni Nayar has now become a singular iden- innings. Somehow, I
tity in the market. The brand’s association with
was very clear that I
its founder is deeply engraved everywhere and
is a result of the passion she had for her dream. would need 10 years
Nykaa, derived from Nayika, which means the
plus, and that is why
actress of one’s life, is certainly the perfect name
I started before I
to beautify and inspire women at the same time.
Kudos to the brand, and to the woman who never turned 50. My sugges-
stops working and exceeds her own expectations.
OFF THE BEATEN PATH tion to entrepreneurs
is to choose what
I There were certain trends and models that
Nayar chose not to follow. One of them being you love because
an inventory-based model over a market-
place, something most ecommerce players you will have to do it
follow that made Nykaa stand out from the rest. with a lot of intensity,
She and her entire team was clear from the begin- commitment, passion,
ning that beauty had to be run as an invento-
ry-based model. According to Nayar ``Beauty and hard work for a
has a lot of variety, and customers knew exactly pretty long time for it
what they wanted. One of the pain points in the
to reach the finishing
market was that they wanted shade XYZ, but it
was never available. We felt the way to deliver line.” – (Her interview
on availability was by holding stock,” she says. with MoneyControl)
Another reason was that they can have supe-
rior delivery timelines and customer experience.
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