Fresh out of school, Falguni began her career as a management consultant with AF Ferguson & Co in 1985. After almost nine years in the company, she moved on to Kotak Securities, one of the oldest and largest equity broking houses in India. In the company, she took on the role of head of international business in London and then later on in New York. After 13 years in the company, Nayar left her role as director and head of the institutional equities business—a position she held for six years.

She later became the managing director of Kotak Investment Banking in 2007, where she stayed for four years before quitting to start her business, Nykaa.  

Falguni’s husband is Sanjay Nayar, the CEO of KKR India, an arm of the leading global investment firm. He is also on the board of KKR’s portfolio companies which include Radiant Healthcare, Bharti Infratel, Magma Financial Services and Coffee Day Holdings. 

The pair reportedly met at business school and tied the knot in 1987. The couple has two children, Adwaita and Anchit, who are twins. The pair currently work at Nykaa with Adwaita as the chief executive of Nykaa Fashion and Anchit as the CEO of beauty e-commerce.

While Falguni is a notable newcomer to the Forbes Billionaire list, did you know that she is also the richest self-made woman in India this year?

This is the second year running that she is recognised for this achievement.

Beauty gets a new name , http://t.co/oQRZIKDb goes live tomorrow.

— falguni nayar (@falguninayar) October 29, 2012

In 2012 and at the age of 50, Falguni decided to pivot to start Nykaa, a cosmetics retail space that brought international beauty brands into India’s retail space. She wanted to help address the beauty needs of women who were struggling with the accessibility of online brands even though she had no prior experience in retail, beauty or technology herself.

In its initial years, Nykaa was completely funded by Falguni and her husband. Falguni explains this decision by saying that she did not want to raise money in the first two years but that she wanted to work on gaining the metrics and numbers needed so that when they approached investors, they would be in good standings. 

In March 2020, the company turned unicorn after only five rounds of funding which involved institutional investors. 

The company largely owes its success to Falguni’s decision to diversify and sell third-party beauty products as well as launch its own brand. Being an omnichannel retailer also helped the company to tide over the years, particularly during the pandemic. 

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