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Falguni Nayar started Nykaa when she was 50! They began with just 30 orders daily. Today she's India's richest self-made female entrepreneur!
Presenting to you India’s richest self-made female billionaire with a net worth of nearly $7.7 billion- Falguni Nayar! Nayar’s company Nykaa, launched its IPO on October 28 to resounding success!
This makes her the second richest female promoter in the country (after Savitri Jindal-chairman of Jindal group of companies). It also makes Nykaa the country’s 52nd biggest listed company. Nykaa is now ahead of established firms like Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Godrej Consumer and Coal India.
In an interview to Bloomberg, Nayar spoke about starting her journey at 50. She said, “I feel women put constraints in their minds which are not necessary. Today many women are managing their business and their children. I don’t think there is one playbook. I did it when I did it and I am glad that I at least tried it when I tried it.”
A former banker and IIM graduate, Falguni Nayar turned entrepreneur in 2012 just a few months before her 50th birthday. Nayar anticipated the huge Indian market for beauty and hair care products. Earlier, women used to buy make-up from local shops where they didn’t have variety or access to luxury beauty products.
The new woman was more independent and had the spending power to indulge in lifestyle brands. They were also looking for easy access & ease to buy the products. Nykaa was a game changer when it entered the market solely because of the vision of Falguni Nayar!
Nayar hopes many more women dare to dream for themselves and they allow the spotlight of their lives to shine on them.
When they initially launched, Nykaa had just 30 orders daily but they never gave up. Reportedly, her operations head quit as they could not handle the 30 orders a day schedule. Nykaa is a Sanskrit word which means, ‘one who is under the spotlight’.
In an interview to Bloomberg, Nayar said, “We’d rather sell the right colour of lipstick at full price than the wrong shade at half the cost which in turn would make the buyer unhappy within minutes of wearing it.”
The site boasts of over 1500 brands of make-up, skin care, fashion and wellness products. They also have international brands like Bobbi Brown, Estee Lauder and L’Occitane. Nykaa has around 80 stores across the country, and also launched their in- house products in 2015. They have a great combination of affordable brands, luxury brands as well as cruelty-free products.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw – The founder of the biopharmaceutical company Biocon was the only self-made woman billionaire India had until now. She has a net worth of around $3.6 billion. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw was one of the first people who tweeted to congratulate Falguni Nayar stating, “Nykaa founder becomes India’s wealthiest self-made female billionaire-fantastic debut. Congratulations Falguni Nayar- You make us women entrepreneurs very proud.”
Being an entrepreneur requires hard work, dedication, grit and passion. Falguni Nayar has been awarded the ‘Businessperson Of The year 2019’ by Vogue India, the ‘EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2019-Start-up Award’ by Ernst and Young and she was listed as one of ‘Asia’s Power Businesswoman 2019’ by Forbes Asia.
According to Business Standard, Nayar is now the country’s 23rd wealthiest promoter. Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries stays at the top, Gautam Adani of the Adani group is at the second spot followed by Rahul Bajaj’s family of Bajaj Finserv.
Falguni Nayar and her family have a 54.25% stake in the company that makes her one of the wealthiest promoters in our country. She is the CEO, chairperson and MD of Nykaa. The shares of the company recently got listed with a massive premium of over 79% against an issue price of Rs 1125 per share. The shares of Nykaa closed at a 96% high on Wednesday. The company’s three day IPO closed on the 1st of November and received over 200 crore bids!
Falguni Nayar began her journey at 50, an age where women are encouraged to think of retirement and taking a back-seat.
The inspirational Falguni Nayar proves that age and gender are no deterrents to become to achieve any dream. Nykaa, according to Nayar, is a platform for women empowerment. Last month they launched a campaign sharing inspiring stories of six women from varied backgrounds.
At the IPO listing ceremony Nayar said, “I started Nykaa at the age of 50 with no experience. To everyone across India who ever had a dream especially women with a dream, I hope the Nykaa journey-an Indian Born, Indian owned and Indian managed dream come true can inspire each of you to be the Nykaa (heroine) of your lives.”
Congratulations Falguni Nayar. We are all proud of you!
Image source: Economic Times
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