Why do you like them, and what did you learn from them? How do you imbibe learnings from them in your daily life?
Founder of well-known beauty, wellness and fashion product “Nykka”, Falguni Nayar is a self-made lady. The name of the company had been derived from the Sanskrit word “Nyaka” which means ‘actress’ or ‘one in spotlight’. In one line we can define her as “Like name of a company, like founder of the company”.
This Gujrati lady was born in 1963 in Mumbai. After her preliminary schooling in Mumbai, she had done her Masters in Finance from IIM Ahmedabad. She joined Kotak Mahindra Group in 1993 as an Investment Banker. With her hard work and intelligence, she had proved her mettle as an investment banker. After 12 years of rigorous effort, uncountable successful deals and commendable leadership she had become the managing director in 2005. She had not only managed Kotak’s business in India but also established it internationally.
After 20 years of impactful, successful, and thriving career in Kotak, she decided to follow her dream. At age of 50, when most people go through a mid-life crisis, Falguni decided to pursue her dream of getting into a business. Undoubtedly, this step was risky as well as courageous. Although, she heard all discouraging and sceptic opinions or suggestions but trusting her experience, analysis, research and confidence she decided and established Nykka in April 2012. This set an example not only for all ladies but for every individual that age is just a number if success is your goal.
Another thing that inspires, she did all this without any knowledge in technology, e-commerce and experience in beauty products. She found the right fit for CTO after 3 rotations. She had also faced days when from 7-member team it became a 2-member team, those were she herself and her daughter. Her hard work is another skill which we can learn. She used to keep a check on all orders herself, even when it was 3000 orders a day.
Before entering the market, she had done all her research and discovered that there is no marketplace for beauty products. However, she also discovered that people look for assortment and curation and so the digital or e-commerce platform will be a boom in foreseeable future. And therefore, her decision was a calculated risk and informed decision.
Today with a valuation of $13 billion Nykka retails over 2000 brands and offer more than 2 lakh products across website, mobile app and 76 offline outlets. With Nov 2021 IPO Falguni is now one of the top 20 richest Indians with a wealth of over 6 billion. She is also the first lady to head a unicorn.
I am sure her achievement inspires not only me but every woman. The crux of her journey is that a informed decision, calculated risk and confidence is the first step to success. Secondly, there is no substitute for hardwork, learning from setbacks and being optimistic.
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