India's first ever self-made female billionaire says women shouldn't feel guilty for dreaming big
Out of the 167 billionaires in India, only nine of them are women.
Falguni Nayar, 60, is the country's first ever self-made female billionaire, and she has spent her career attempting to kick down doors for women to make real wealth - something that is relatively unheard of in India.
According to one survey, 92 percent of Indian women spend more than five hours a day on unpaid domestic services.
Men also earn more than 80 percent of the labour income, whereas women earn just 18 percent of it, the World Inequality Report estimated last year.
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The gender earning gap is there for all to see - but that did not discourage Mumbai-born Nayar from pursuing her dreams of being successful in business.
Nayar was born and raised in Maharashtra by a Gujarati family. As her mother helped her father run a modest bearings company, Nayar took inspiration from their business ethos of working hard.
Nayar's career started in 1993, crunching numbers in the finance world and successfully climbing the corporate ladder in what was a male-dominated industry.
Fast-forward to 2005, she was appointed as the managing director of Kotak Mahindra Capital and a director of Kotak Securities.
Working as an investment banker for 19 years, Nayar earned a very good living and raised two children with her CEO husband.
However, in 2012, Nayar decided she no longer wanted men to dictate her life, and she quit her job.
At the age of 49, she risked it all and put a whopping $2 million of her own money into a cosmetics start-up called Nykaa.
Nykaa quickly became one of the leading e-commerce websites in India, specialising in beauty, wellness and fashion products.
Nayar told Fortune she thought it was vital for women to take risks and follow their dreams.
"Women don’t want to bet the family capital on business," she said. "Men are always starting new businesses and taking the availability of family capital for granted, whereas women don’t want to impose.
"Women need to not feel guilty if they want to dream for themselves."
She explained: "The name Nykaa means 'actress'. Our message to our customers was, let the spotlight of your life be on you."
From the get-go, Nayar made it clear that her products were 'made by women, for women'.
Alongside the website, the company now has more than 100 physical stores and recorded revenues of $640 million.
With a team of over 1600 Nykaa-ites, Nayar has built a beauty and lifestyle retail empire with a portfolio of 1500+ brands, including its own private label, available online and across 68 stores in India.
Notably, the workforce has a female-led gender ratio of 53:47.
In 2021, Nayar's net worth was estimated to be $1.1 billion, making her India's first self-made female billionaire.
In her path to success, the former investment banker has arguably paved the way for a more inclusive environment in her country.
"For too long, women have been the support system of their family," she said. "They feel that if they want to lead their life, there may be disruptions, or they may not be able to sustain it.
"And I think that fear must go. It’s a generational shift that can be achieved—it’s not a quick fix in two or three years.
“I hope more women like me dare to dream for themselves.”
Tyla's Female First series celebrates women who were the first to achieve something special in their field.
Topics: Money
Anish Vij