Falguni Nayar: Empowering Women and Redefining the Beauty Industry with Nykaa
Falguni Nayar: A Visionary Businesswoman and Nykaa's Founder
Entrepreneurs do not have a specific gender, any people with a dream and the will to work hard will achieve success. The same happened with none other than Falguni Nayar. Entrepreneurship defines her, it is not her who defines it only because of her brilliance work towards her company.
Falguni Sanjay Nayar is an Indian billionaire businesswoman and is the founder and CEO of Nykaa. Further, in this article, we will talk about the success story of Falguni Nayar.
Read More : Rise & Fall of Nykaa – Business Case Study & Revenue
Early Life and Inspiration: Nurturing Entrepreneurial Dreams
Falguni Sanjay Nayar was born back on 19th February 1963 in Mumbai, Maharashtra. When it comes to her early life she was born and raised in a Gujarati family which was in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
| Sn | Key Figures/Facts | Details |
| 1 | Full Name | Falguni Sanjay Nayar |
| 2 | Date of Birth | 19th February 1963 |
| 3 | Birthplace | Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| 4 | Education | B.Com from Sydenham College |
| 5 | Postgraduate from IIM Ahmedabad (1985) | |
| 6 | Career Highlights | Kotak Mahindra Group (1993-2012) |
| 7 | Founder and CEO of Nykaa (since 2012) | |
| 8 | Nykaa's Business Model | D2C brand with inventory-based approach |
| 9 | Nykaa's Unique Strategy | Purchasing products directly from manufacturers to ensure authenticity and control pricing |
| 10 | Impact on Beauty Industry | Disrupted Indian beauty industry with quality products and extensive range |
| 11 | Nykaa's Online Community | Created a knowledge bank for beauty advice, news, and updates |
| 12 | Philanthropic Initiatives | Raised funds for Project Nanhi Kali and started Sanjay and Falguni Nayar Foundation |
| 13 | Recognition and Awards | Economic Times Startup Award 2017 - 'Woman Ahead' |
| Economic Times Awards 2019 - Businesswoman of the Year | ||
| Forbes Asia - Listed as one of Asia's Power Businesswomen in 2019 | ||
| Vogue India - Businessperson of the Year in 2019 | ||
| EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2019 |
Her interest in business came a lot from her father, as he was a businessman who ran a small bearings company which was further assisted by her mother. She did not immediately start Nykaa, just like any other entrepreneur she had to face lots of difficulties and hard work.
Her hard work and dedication helped her get many notable awards and achievements. Ever since she was in her school days and then graduation days she has always been smart and bright. Today, we can see her results in the awards she receives in different parts of the country and the world.
Falguni Nayar's Corporate Journey: From Kotak Mahindra to Nykaa
If we start talking about Falguni Nayar’s career then we surely need to know about her educational background. When it comes to education and qualification she was one of the brightest students in the class.
She is a graduate of B.Com from Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics and she has also done her postgraduate from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. Yes, she was a part of the IIM batch of 1985 which is another proud moment for her.
After completing all her studies and other projects, Nayar joined Kotak Mahindra Group back in 1993. Prior to this, she was working as a consultant in a company at A. F. Ferguson and Co. Her journey into Kotak Mahindra Group was for a long time. Initially, Nayar joined Kotak as Head of International Business. She was in this position for three years and she was in London, United Kingdom.
After serving for three years, she was posted to become the Head of International Business from 1994-2001 and shifted her location of work from London to Greater New York City Area. From 2001-2007 she was again promoted to the Director and Head of Institutional Equities Business. This was when she had come to the Mumbai area for work. Later, from December 2007-March 2012, she served as the Managing Director of Kotak Investment Banking.
This was her beautiful 20 years of corporate journey but, deep inside Nayar wanted to start her business. At the age of 50, when she was doing very well in her career, she took a leap of faith and quit her beautiful job and wanted to start Nykaa.
Nykaa's Genesis: Building a Dream from Scratch
Now, her corporate life was completed or she quit her job to follow her dream. It was time to work on her dream and make it into reality. It was surely not an easy job to start a new company easily. Before starting Nykaa in 2012, it was not easy for her to even take the decision to quit her job.
In an interview, she revealed that starting late or early as an entrepreneur has its own way of working itself out. She also revealed that all her learnings from books and professional work came in to help her to build the right company. She thinks, whatever path you choose, they have their advantages and disadvantages.
She founded Nykaa with her own money which she had collected. Falguni revealed that she wanted to quit her job three years ago but, due to some reason, she did not. Additionally, she also wanted to become an entrepreneur before 50.
The unique business model she used was establishing Nykaa as a D2C brand. It started operating on the inventory-based business model, this approach helped to ensure the authenticity of products, control pricing, and most importantly customer experience. One of the best innovative strategies used by Nykaa during its initial phase was they purchased products directly from manufacturers and further sell them at a lower rate.
Overcoming Obstacles: How Nykaa Beat the Competition
Nykaa surely had lots of obstacles but, Falguni was able to overcome them all. There were already well-established e-commerce businesses such as Flipkart and Amazon which were selling makeup products but, Nykaa blew them away. Nykaa being an Indian company was highly supported by the political policies. The FDI policy was being properly utilized by Nykaa.
Nykaa was allowed to open physical stores as it was an Indian company and as a result, this increased the brand awareness and trust among customers. Now, other than this, Nykaa introduced lots of innovative steps to solve problems faced by Indian customers.
The innovative steps and products from the company helped it gain lots of funds a few years later. Investors caught this company’s attention when this company solved the expiry date problem. Big companies like Flipkart and Amazon sold products where the expiry date was erased by online sellers and consumers were cheated multiple times. This left a huge untapped market for Nykaa capitalizing on which it became a 10-billion-dollar company.
The Rise of Nykaa
One of the best reasons for Nykaa’s rise is already mentioned above. The company took good advantage of the political help from the Indian government and earned the loyalty of a huge base of Indian customers. This is where the company started earning lots of revenues in the country.
The company started opening stores in the Indian market and made a very strong online presence as well by offering amazing offers and discounts. Today, this company sells a wide range of beauty products and that has expanded to new areas like Designer women's clothing. If you happen to visit the official website of the company, then you will get featured with more than 35000 products, 400 curated, and well-priced products. This kind of enormous product range and options is not given by many big players in the market.
Ever since the company was established they always had a customer-centric approach. They offered seamless conflict resolution, full product details, and most importantly kept a reasonable price. Using Verloop.ai Nykaa handles approximately 1.6 million unique conversations. They also offered a ‘beauty advice’ option for all the customers and it surely helped Nykaa engage customers.
Empowering Women in the Workplace: Nykaa's Commitment
The whole company was built for women of all ages. They not only made products for women but, participated in lots of women empowerment programs as well. Falguni Nayar has inspired all those women who dare to dream for themselves and has inspired many women to be the Nykaa of their life.
It was in 2020 when Nykaa as a company collaborated with Netflix and launched a campaign ‘Beauty in her story’. This campaign celebrated powerful stories of women. The campaign kick-started with the film Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare and the series Masaba Masaba.
Now, other than this, Nykaa Pro has partnered with Mumbai-based youth-led organizations Project Baala and Junoon to identify and reach out to exceptional and bright young women. Interestingly, these non-profit works towards empowering the youth from low-income groups and aims to make them employment ready.
Nykaa's Impact on the Beauty Industry: Disrupting the Market
Nykaa had already started imparting on the beauty industry a few years later it was established. It became very popular when all the products sold by both online and offline stores became customers’ favourites.
Nykaa disrupted the Indian beauty industry by offering amazing and top-quality products. The beauty industry is going to touch $20 billion by 2025. Nykaa will be making rare international makeup available to buyers at a very minimal price. It has already impacted and is planning to impact more in the future.
Besides these, Nykaa has also built a knowledge bank through its online community where users can easily come and read, share advice, get news, get updates, and ask experts about their specific beauty concerns.
Philanthropic Endeavors: Falguni Nayar's Contributions
We have given lots of project names that the company has been associated with. Most of the projects are taken care of by Falguni Nayar. She has raised funds for lots of non-profit organizations which focus n building the career of small girls.
Other than his, Nayar has raised funds for Project Nanhi Kali. It is an Indian Non-governmental Organization that offers or provides primary education for underprivileged girls in India.
Falguni Nayar has also started a foundation which is Sanjay and Falguni Nayar Foundation. It is an unlisted private company that was incorporated on 3rd September 2021. This company is also classified as a not-for-profit company and the head office of this company is located in Mumbai City.
Recognition and Awards: Celebrating Success and Empowerment
We know how well-established today Nykaa has become and it surely did not come easily. When you work hard for the society you get results. Nykaa is such a company that not only focuses on selling innovative and quality products but, it has promotes a lot of women empowerment programs along with the CEO.
The overall success of both Falguni Nayar and Nykaa has earned her this recognition and awards:-
- Awarded ‘Woman Ahead’ at the Economic Times Startup Award 2017
- Businesswoman of the Year at the Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence in 2019
- Listed as one of Asia’s Power Businesswomen in 2019 by Forbes Asia
- Businessperson of the Year by Vogue India in 2019
- EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2019
Lessons from Falguni Nayar: Insights for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
Falguni Nayar’s business story is surely very inspiring and have inspired lots of young women out there. After this huge success story, there are many lessons that we have learnt from her past, present, and future. Here are the lessons that we have learnt:-
- Identify a niche and go all in it. Yes, we have seen Falguni wanting to become an entrepreneur and that is why she left her beautiful all-set job and started Nykaa. Today, we can all see how successful both Falguni Nayar and her company are.
- Customer satisfaction is very important. We have learnt how Falguni Nayar has a customer-centric approach and it has helped her company gain a huge customer base.
- Deliver what the customer wants. Making products and delivering to the right customers in the right place is very important for any business and that is what we have seen followed by Nykaa.
- Be open to new opportunities. Other than selling products and services, we have seen Nykaa being a part of other activities such as donations, women empowerment, promotions of women empowerment projects, and many more.
Conclusion
From quitting a wonderful job and taking a huge risk to start a new company we have all seen the ups and downs of Falguni Nayar and Nykaa. Without Nykaa many women might not have come forward for what they wanted to achieve in life. For many decades, it has always been a men-dominating society in every field but, we can see that changing and it will change for good. All the credit for such goes to wonderful and powerful women like none other than Falguni Nayar. We have to agree she is an inspiration to women from all countries not only in the Asian region. Her beautiful story teaches us hard work, discipline, efficiency, and the key to success.