AGE IS JUST A NUMBER

India's 1st Woman Billionaire

Falguni Nayar the founder of beauty startup Nykaa became the seventh self-made billionaire this week riding on the successful debut of the company on stock market following Stellar initial public offer (IPO). Nayar runs India's FSN E-Commerce ventures limited., which raised ₹53.5 billion ($720mn) in its IPO offering and saw shares rise 96% on its first day of trading. This put in the league of the world’s richest.

                                  Falguni Nayar, born and raised in a Gujarati family, is a graduate of IIM Ahmedabad and a former investment banker. Her father ran a small bearings company. Before starting the Nykaa, Nayar worked with Kotak Mahindra capital, where she was the managing director and head of its institutional equities business. She turned entrepreneur in 2012, just a few months before turning 50 years old.

                                  Nayar's company is one of the few profitable new-age digital startups and its financials have improved substantially after the covid-19 pandemic. Nykaa is part of a new generation of Indian startups that are breaking out into the public markets. After the recent IPO fund raising the company plans to expand its presence with more stores beside focusing on fashion products. It is the only profitable unicorn going public and a rare new-age firm whete its promoter group still owns more than half the company. Nykaa is one of the the leading players in the online BPC space with millions of users on its app. India's self-made billionaire has proved that gender, age, background and education are no bar to become an entrepreneur.