The beauty of starting a business is transforming a bank into a new billionaire in India

Modern businesses are run by young people: skeptics of technology with a clear vision, unwavering self-esteem and losing a bit if their ideas do not fade.

That’s why former banker Falguni Nayar became concerned in 2012, at the age of 49, he resigned from one of India’s most successful banks to launch an online beauty retailer Nykaa.

“Doing business at a young age is good – there’s nothing wrong with it if it doesn’t go well,” Nayar told the Financial Times. “I always thought: how much money do I have left to start this – what if it doesn’t work?”

No need to worry: this month, the parent of Nykaa company, FSN E-Commerce Ventures, raised $ 722m in the first public offering accounting for the company for approximately $ 7.4bn. On its first day of trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange, the share price almost doubled, sending an estimated $ 13bn.

Nayar, whose family consists of a 52 percent in Nykaa, he was promoted to a new position as the richest self-made businessman in India – proof, if necessary, that maturity, as well as the record of the richest people in India, is a valuable asset to any start-up business.

He says: “My previous experience helped me to maintain a measure of control over the ship.

Born in Falguni Mehta in 1963, Nayar’s desire for action goes back to his childhood in Mumbai, where his father ran his own factory, and did not separate his daughter from his son.

“My father viewed me as an individual,” he says. “She never allowed me to think that ‘girls can’t do that’. The way I was raised and what made me who I am. I do not agree with the girls’ view of life. ”

She attended the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad – the highest business school in the country – where she was one of nine women in a class of 150 students. She later married Sanjay, a former IIM member, who went to work for Citigroup in London, New York and eventually became a major executive in India and South Asia, before joining the financial sector. KKR in Mumbai in 2009.

Although Nayar accepts business interests even after completing her junior training, she chose occupational safety, first as a management consultant, as she tried to balance her career goals with her role as a woman, and later as a mother of twins.

“Juggle is a very important word for women,” she said. “I do not always have a good life. At times, I have been very self-sufficient, and sometimes I have very strong family responsibilities. ”

After eight years of applying, Nayar joined the Kotak Mahindra financial group in 1993, setting up its own foreign corporations in London and then New York based on her husband’s writings. When the couple returned to India in 2001, they headed the Kotak corporate business, which was involved in many Indian IPOs.

“What I saw was that somehow the entrepreneurs had complete confidence in what they were doing,” he said. “He saw an opportunity that no one else saw.”

By 2008, Nayar had realized his potential – in the Indian jewelry and jewelry market, which was dominated by small shops, sometimes called “various shops”, which also sold items such as protective pins. and hair extensions.

When her children went to college in another country, the desire to “start something from the beginning” grew, even though it took more than three years to move to Kotak.

“It was difficult for me to leave a very good job, but I was able to muster up the courage to quit in 2012,” he said, adding that he started working for the company, from his father’s old office, the next day.

Nykaa’s first investment, which was set up in October 2012, was based on the couple’s savings over several years of banking and finance, and Nayar did not take any money from other investors until 2014.

It was clear that his company should be a wholesale business, not an ecommerce platform where buyers and sellers can take action, as Flipkart of Amazon and Walmart had to make their own in India.

Side a web page with the app, Nykaa also has 85 stores in 40 Indian cities, where customers can see and try jewelry and beauty before buying.

Because India prohibits foreign currency from selling a variety of goods, Nayar always has to be careful about raising money. At the same time SoftBank and other foreign currency was pouring money In early India, Nayak’s first investors were rich Indians in India and overseas, though Henry Kravis, co-founder of the secret KKR group, also owns 1.1 percent.

After the blockbuster IPO, India’s youngest billionaire has no plans to retire. Nayar and his twins, Anchit and Adwaita, 31, both of whom hold senior positions in the company, are striving to consolidate their role as a beauty retailer for younger generations.

“Investors have put their trust in us and expect us to grow faster,” Nayar said.

She also hopes that the success of Nykaa, a name derived from the Sanskrit word meaning actress or heroine, will inspire other women.

Of all his doubts, he admits that he was always encouraged by fear.

“I’m a tourist and I don’t see the danger,” he said. “I will be the weakest swimmer in my family and the first person to jump into the water.”