Falguni Nayar | |
---|---|
Born | [1] Mumbai, Maharashtra, India | 19 February 1963
Other names | Falguni Sanjay Nayar[2] |
Education | MBA Finance |
Alma mater | |
Occupation | Founder & CEO of Nykaa |
Employer | Kotak Mahindra Bank (1993–2012) |
Spouse |
Sanjay Nayar (m. 1987) |
Children | 2 |
Falguni Sanjay Nayar (born 19 February 1963) is an Indian billionaire businesswoman,[3] who is the founder and CEO of the beauty and lifestyle retail company Nykaa, formally known as FSN E-Commerce Ventures which is an acronym of her own name.[4][5] Nayar is one of two self-made female Indian billionaires.
Nayar was born and raised in a Gujarati family in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Her father was a businessman and ran a small bearings company, assisted by her mother.[6] She is a graduate in B.Com from Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics and a postgraduate from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (1985 batch).[6][7]
In 1993, Nayar joined Kotak Mahindra Group after leaving her consultant job at A. F. Ferguson & Co. At Kotak Mahindra, she was initially the head of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) team, before going on to open institutional equities offices in London and New York City. In 2001, she returned to India.[8][9][10] In 2005, she was appointed as the managing director of Kotak Mahindra Capital, the investment banking unit, and director of Kotak Securities, the institutional equities arm. She quit her job in 2012.[7][11][12]
In April 2012, at the age of 50,[13] she founded Nykaa with $2 million of her own money.[14] Nykaa was worth $2.3 billion as of 2021 bringing Nayar's fortune to an estimated $1.1 billion. Nayar is one of 2 self-made female Indian billionaires, the other being Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.[15] Nykaa listed at $13 billion valuation on 10 November 2021. Soon after Nykaa went public, Nayar became the wealthiest self-made female Indian, with her net worth rising to the tune of $6.5 billion, and entered the list of top 20 Indians by net worth. [14][16] In 2022, Nayar made her debut in the Forbes India Rich List at rank 44.[17]
Falguni Nayar married Sanjay Nayar in the year 1987, whom she met at business school. He is the CEO of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts India.[18][19][20][6] They have two children – Adwaita Nayar and Anchit Nayar, who are twins;[21] Adwaita is the CEO of Nykaa Fashion whereas Anchit heads the retail and e-commerce divisions.[22]