Successful Indian Entrepreneurs Like Falguni Nayar
                     FALGUNI NAYAR
The Founder and CEO of 
NYKAA
Meet Falguni Nayar:-
• Former investment banker, founder and CEO of 
multi-brand beauty retailer NYKAA. 
• Belongs to a Gujrati family, born and brought up 
in Mumbai. 
• Graduation from Sydenham College of Commerce 
and Economics
• Master’s in management from Indian Institute of 
Management, Ahmedabad.
Nayar’s Life:
• Started her career with A. F. Ferguson & Co. as a 
consultant. 
• 19 years of work experience as Investment 
Banker with Kotak Mahindra Group.
• In 2005, she took over the post of Managing 
Director and made Kotak Mahindra a famous 
leading IPO Banker.
"If we tried to think of a good idea, we wouldn’t 
have been able to think of a good idea. You just 
have to find the solution for a problem in your 
own life." -Brian Chesky
Story Behind NYKAA:
• The idea of NYKAA came to Nayar’s mind when 
she visited a Sephora store in US. The sales 
associate recommended her best products and 
showed the best ways to use them. Though she 
wasn’t a regular customer of beauty products, still 
she had spent hundreds of dollars.
She felt a need to bring this concept in India, to 
have all the brands in a single store.
“I wanted to stand for those women who want to 
be beautiful for themselves, not for men or other 
women.”
                                                                      - 
Falguni Nayar
• She took a huge step by quitting her well-
established job at the age of 50 and stepping into 
an entrepreneurial journey. 
• Nykaa was found in 2012. 
• She considered all user feedbacks to develop a 
loyal customer base for Nykaa.
Nayar’s journey sounds like very easy job? Well it 
wasn’t as it seems like. It’s not easy for anyone to 
quit job at the age of 50 and start a totally 
different stream business from scratch.
“Being an entrepreneur is not an easy job. An 
Entrepreneur is like a roller-caster. If you are 
stronger from inside, you can enjoy it.”
Challenges and Evolution:
• Being an Investment banker she was well aware 
of intricacies of raising funds and investment in a 
business. 
• The first phase of her business was developing a 
site and creating a user experience for the 
customers.
• The second phase was to get the genuine 
products to the store and to make them available 
for customers at genuine prices.
• Then comes the Marketing and Promotion into 
picture to make the brand popular.
She overcame all the challenges at every phase 
by her dedication and hard work. 
About Nykaa:
• An e-commerce website that offers beauty and wellness 
products from all the leading brands including Lakmé, 
Kaya Skin Clinic, L'Oréal Paris, etc. 
• It has stores in more than 17 stores now and is 
expanding. 
• It has over 850+ curated brands and over 1 lakh 
products. 
• It offers a comprehensive selection of makeup, skincare, 
hair care, fragrances, bath and body, luxury and wellness 
products for women and men. 
The brand is now an epitome in wellness and 
beauty and is very popular, speciallly among an 
age group of 22-36.
• Nykaa is further opening its luxury stores 
(Nykaa luxury) in premier destinations. 
• Nykaa has also been a front runner in bringing 
international luxury brands to India, which is 
obviously because of overwhelming response of 
Nykaa customers. 
Achievements of Nykaa:
• In 2018 Nykaa collaborated with Femina and 
organized Nykaa Femina Beauty Awards 2018. 
• Business Today featured Nykaa's founder Falguni 
Nayar in The Most Powerful Women in Business 
2017. 
• Nayar also won the ‘Woman Ahead’ award at the 
Economic Times Startup Awards 2017
"Don’t get distracted. Never tell yourself that you 
need to be the biggest brand in the whole world. 
Start by working on what you need at the present 
moment and then what you need to do tomorrow. 
So, set yourself manageable targets." -Jas 
Bagniewski
• Nykaa also raised funds for Project Nanhi Kali on 
International Women's Day, 2015. Project Nanhi 
Kali is an Indian NGO that provides primary 
education for underprivileged girls in India
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