Progress, not Perfection: A story of Naayika

I am uncertain about “every little girl dreams of her marriage”, but I am certain about “every little girl wants to create her own significance in the world”. It energizes me whenever I read or hear about women who paved their way. Their struggles, epiphanies, and success bring out “The Josh” that lies within. The month of March asks for more and more stories of these women.

8th March was celebrated by looking at incredible women and hearing their journey. We have come up with a similar inspirational story of someone who gave a whole new meaning to internet and beauty.

This article is about a lady who came from a middle-class family in Gujarat with a vision that created craze in beauty: Falguni Nayar.

She did her masters from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad in Finance. She worked as a manager at A F Ferguson & Co logo for eight years. Later, she invested her thirteen years in Kotak Securities.

One day, she quit her job to work on her idea. And nine years later, the name ‘Nykaa’ became a growing affluence. A ‘Naayika’ (heroine in Sanskrit) created bustle in public with her brand.

In the world where people judge you on your gender and age, Falguni brought this change. It is hard to make your name in business in your 50s when everyone looks forward to Gen Z and millennials in this field — also the target consumers. Breaking all the stereotypes, Falguni became India’s richest self-made billionaire with net worth of 430 crore USD.

Nykaa is an e-commerce company which was announced to be the first Indian unicorn start-up company led by a woman. It has a net profit of more than 1.2 crore. It provides beauty products and recently it expanded the focus to other products too. As easy it sounds, it was never smooth road for this business to boom. It faced great loses in 2019 and 2020 but like a Phoenix, it gained triumph in 2021.

For youngsters like me, who live in a misconception of ‘success in 20s’, she stands as an inspiration. No matter how old you are, what is your marital status, where you come from, or what people say, it is always your responsibility to have a vision and faith in it.

Women Techmakers believe in the same; celebrating the journey more than perfecting the milestone. Success is not only what we receive in the end but it is those small achievements we make throughout the process. This month, we are appreciating the little growth that we show in every voyage of our life.

Remember: Progress, not Perfection.