I refused to see age as a handicap: Falguni Nayar – Business Today

At Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry's (FICCI) annual convention and 94th AGM held today in New Delhi, Naina Lal Kidwai, past president of FICCI and chairperson, Advent India Advisory Board was in conversation with Falguni Nayar, founder and CEO, Nykaa on the power of women entrepreneurship. In a free- wheeling chat they discussed Nykaa's journey, advice for younger women wanting to enter the start up world, and how to ensure more women have access to technology and education. Edited Excerpts:

Naina Lal Kidwai: You are an inspiration for women who want to not only take a mid-career but also an end-career jump into entrepreneurship. It's whole new example that you have sent out. Do you think it was easier for you, having had the experience, the contacts and the credibility that you had established?

Falguni Nayar: I personally feel when I decided to start Nykaa at 50 with no experience in beauty, no experience in technology, no experience in retail, it was all a learning curve. Even finding the right employees and investors who believed in me was tough. But it was the belief in me that I could do it, and not accepting any setbacks is what carried me through is what I can say.

My mindset was that before I turn 50 I had to start my own business otherwise I will never do it. I was 48 at that time. Instead of seeing age as a handicap, I saw it as all the experience that came with it. My professional experience came in very handy. But entrepreneurship is also about learning new things. So I would like to tell women to please educate yourselves and be very open minded.

The business landscape is perpetually evolving and one must be ready to learn and unlearn regularly. And I think this is what people with experience are not willing to do. They are not open to looking at the new landscape and see what it entails. For example, I have built a company that appeals to millennials and a lot of my workforce is millennial and I really had to sometime think of things very differently to appeal to my customers as well as my employees. And I had to be totally open to a new way of working than what I was used to.

I think these are some of the important things that one needs to do. And also one should not feel that oh I can't do this. Like I was not an engineer. I am not from IIT. Most of the entrepreneurs are like from IIT, smart, young, intelligent. Things came to them even when they were in college. They didn't seem to need training. But I felt I was ready to learn about technology, I was ready to ask stupid questions, I was ready to admit in an interview that look guys I may not talk your language but I have this vision for my business and I want to build the company like this. So I think just that confidence that you carry with yourself that you want to pursue a dream and you want to see it to the finishing line, is what's very important.

So my suggestion to women will be to pursue very wide education. I don't mean formally in colleges, but on the job. They should be open to learning more in fields that are not their strengths. So if they are strong in finance they should be open to learning marketing, technology, operations, supply-chain. Today successful businesses need all of that and more. And the other thing is that you have to stay committed to yourself and also believe in yourself. Entrepreneurship is a big roller coaster journey with good days and bad days and one must not lose heart when you face failures. You have to treat them as learning experiences. At the same time, if you let the highs get to your head then that's also a problem. So you need to be grounded and focus on the job. So I think these are some very important lessons that I learnt while I was on this journey.

Naina Lal Kidwai: Falguni, you are a great example of someone who believes in perennial learning and the humility with which you have managed it, is a great trait. For a younger woman who is starting off, say a next generation who wants to enter the start up world, is there any different or additional advice you might offer.

Falguni Nayar: Yes for sure. I listened to other experts at a Mckinsey session on what women need to do and I really self-learned from those sessions. And that's the lesson I want to share with younger women. I think many women do not build networks. They must build the right networks and relationships that are required to succeed. No one can be a one-woman army.

At the same time an entrepreneur must understand how to negotiate deals, how to pitch to investors, their ability to take the right risks. All of these soft skills are as necessary as the technical skills that a woman may have. I think a lot of women try to accentuate their strong skills but they don't try to embrace some of these other skills that are very much needed to be an entrepreneur who needs to see their business reach the finishing line.

The other thing is the balance between the personal life and work. A lot of young women have a very hard time trying to balance work and life. But sometimes you have to compromise the personal life and prioritise work, and it's ok. And sometimes you need to compromise on work for a little bit to pay attention to your personal life. So I have a very interesting word for it that I call 'juggle'. I think juggle is better than trying to have a balanced life. Trying to achieve a balanced life is nirvana which I think probably doesn't come easily.

Naina Lal Kidwai: Falguni, you are the envy of many family-owned businesses because you have managed to get two brilliant kids back from working in global organizations to actually come back and join you. Tell us about how you have embraced them and ensure that they stay with you in the business?

Falguni Nayar: I have to say that I am really lucky that both of them have agreed to stay with me and allowed me to be their boss. My kids are as millennial as any other kid their generation so I had to understand what it means to be a millennial for them to accept me. I have a lot of millennial employees. When I started to understand the milennials and Gen-Z and what kind of life they want, I became a better boss. They are very transparent, very honest, authenticity is very big to them. You cannot, as a company, be saying one thing and doing another. We as a company are a very millennial accepted company. Our value system as a company reflects very positively with them. I think because it is not a tale of two worlds they are happy working over here.

Naina Lal Kidwai: India has among the world's highest gender gaps in accessing digital technology. How can we ensure that women and girls are empowered enough to thrive in this technology-oriented digital world? What is your view on this?

Falguni Nayar: So yes this is a very important area. As routine jobs become automated and pressure on women will intensify then they will experience higher unemployment rates. Typically women hold most of the administrative and data processing roles currently in our industries and AI is likely to replace those. Technology has become critical to businesses not only for digital-first businesses like Nykaa but also internet companies becoming major employment creators. Even traditional businesses are becoming digitized, especially post the pandemic. With all this, access to and understanding internet and technology is a function of education at all levels.

First and foremost, I would like to see the gender disparity in education, especially at higher level which leads to certain level of differences in technology patterns such as women not going in for stem education. So the quality of education itself across all levels needs to be improved. Critical thinking as well as analytics needs to be inculcated. A critical bent of mind and fluency in a critical language like English is a must. All these are very important and we have to emphasise this for all students. And that this empowerment needs to be for everyone and not just boys needs to come from the families. Families need to ensure that girls don't drop out of education at any level. They have to be supportive of their girls and tell them that this will change your life if you reach the finishing line. Education is very important and it cannot be compromised because you have to get married or because you have to help at home.

Women have to pursue their dream and ambition. Pursuing their dream is a priority and it is a right that should be provided to the women rather than get them bogged down by a lot of familial tasks.

Our recent census shows that number of women in the country has gone up. So the mindset of Indians is changing. It is becoming positive towards women. I remember when I was growing up it was 880 among 1000 men. From there India has made a lot of progress to allow them the right to be born. Now I am saying give them a right to dream. Give them the freedom so that they feel empowered that they can use the family money. They don't have money in their name. They must have money in their name. Of course, institutional resources are important but I feel that it is the responsibility of the family also that women can take family money. If men can bet the whole house on their business, why not women.

Also Read: MPW: How Falguni Nayar Led Nykaa to a Successful IPO

Also Read: More women need to embrace STEM education, says Nykaa's Falguni Nayar

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I refused to see age as a handicap: Falguni Nayar - Business Today