Nykaa Dhamaka: 7 women who turned entrepreneurs at 50 (and won the world)

As per statistics, your business is likely to be much more successful if you start in your 50s. Here are 7 examples to prove this fact true. Well, how did everyone get on this list and make it to the top of the world? Here's a look.

FALGUNI NAYAR

Nykaa founder Falguni Nayar became India’s first female self-made billionaire after her company Nykaa was listed recently. Falguni Nayar started her entrepreneurial journey at the age of 50, after a 20-year stint as an investment banker. Within a decade, Nykaa became the first beauty marketplace brand ever, and is valued higher today than many multi-generational businesses. Having created a profitable business organically, it focused on encouraging demand for beauty products instead of competition between brands. Nykaa is the only profitable unicorn to be listed in India in 2021.

SAVITRI JINDAL

Savitri Jindal is a steel baroness who is the Chairman of the OP Jindal Group, a global conglomerate that spans steel manufacturing, power, industrial gases, seaport facilities and mining. It was founded by OP Jindal in 1952 and was taken over in 2005 by Savitri Jindal when her husband passed away. At the age of 55, she started a new entrepreneurial journey and multiplied the existed turnover 4 times. Under her guidance, the brand established leadership positions in new countries like Chile and Mozambique.

SAUMYA RAJAN

Saumya Rajan is the Founder, MD and CEO of Waterfield Advisors, a financial services advisory company that helps clients in planning finances, managing investments, corporate governance, legacy planning and business succession. Saumya had a 17-year career in banking with ANZ and Standard Chartered Bank, after which she pursued her entrepreneurial ambitions. This is when she was around 45. Her idea and dream was to become the go-to bank for legendary investors. Her company manages about Rs 29,000 crore in financial assets for around 70 business families.

#WomanSummit17Soumya Rajan of Waterfield Advisors reads this inspiring letter that her grandmother wrote to her mother. pic.twitter.com/cc5MK9ZzAU

— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) March 24, 2017

GAIL BECKER

Founder and CEO of Caulipower, Gail took her company from 0 to US$ 100 million in 3 years flat. Having been a broadcast journalist in the 1980s and a communications strategist later at Warner Bros, corporate life happened to slowly disenchant Gail. One day she got frustrated when she took 90 minutes to bake a pizza crust. As her kids were intolerant to gluten, she decided to create her own cauliflower-based pizza. That created Caulipower, where she packages and sells cauliflower-based foods.

DIANA BOMAR

Diana had dropped out of college to look after her kids. When she turned 57, she decided to pull herself free from a career as VP of Sales and Marketing, to launch an independent career in Logistics. In her 60s, Diana launched a multi-million dollar business in the male-dominated Logistics and Transportation industry. As the Founder and CEO of Platinum Cargo Logistics, her focus is to provide relationship-driven experience in transportation and logistics; something she terms “The Platinum Experience”.

KAY KOPLOVITZ

Kay was the first woman to head a TV network and is the founder of USA Network. She created the business model for cable networks by introducing licensing and advertisement and her leadership kept the USA Network on top of the cable prime time ratings for 14 years. As Chairperson of National Women’s Business Council, she used this to launch Springboard Enterprises at the age of 55. Springboard was created to help women entrepreneurs think big and help them raise venture capital. Springboard has supported over 800 companies with a value of over US$ 27.5 billion.

JULIE WAINWRIGHT

Back in 1999, Julie was the CEO of Pets.com, an Amazon-style website that helped you order pet supplies. The company raised US$ 82 million in 2000 by an IPO but filed for bankruptcy in 9 months because of its flawed business model. A public failure and a divorce forced her to look for opportunities. At 53, she found one and launched TheRealReal, a second-hand luxury shop that sells authentic clothing, jewellery, watches and fine art. They recorded US$ 100 million in the first year sales and went public in 2019. The company is now worth US$ 1.3 billion.