Mrs. Falguni Nayar – Nykaa Ltd.

At the age of 49, she decided that she will become the “Nayika” of her own life – and that’s how Nykaa was born!

Yes, we are talking about Mrs. Falguni Nayar today!

Watching her dad build his small bearing business from scratch in her childhood, she always had an entrepreneurial mindset.

After doing her graduation from Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics, she finished her post-graduation from IIM Ahmedabad.

After graduating from IIM Ahmedabad, Falguni started her career in consulting with A.F. Ferguson & Co. (PwC) and then spent her time at the Kotak Mahindra Bank.

During this period, in 1994, her husband had to shift to London for his career and she decided to accompany him and leave Kotak Mahindra, but as Mr. Uday Kotak knew the potential of Mrs. Nayar, he gave her the responsibility of setting up Kotak Mahindra Bank in the UK. Later she also set up the Kotak Mahindra Bank in the USA.

In 1997, she became the in charge of Kotak Mahindra’s Institutional Equities business, where her role was to help companies become public. She was helping people chase their dreams and building empires – and this had a profound impact on her and it was during this time, the childhood spark of her entrepreneurship ignited and she too wanted to do something on her own.

In 2009, she promised herself that before the age of 50 (year 2013), she would become the Nayikaa of her own life and start up.

In 2013 she started what we all know today as Nykaa and the rest is history.

This was the story of our third Ratna from the Navaratri special series – Mrs. Falguni Nayar, founder of Nykaa – which proves that it’s never too late to do what’s on your mind.