Falguni Nayar wins EY award for entrepreneurs

Falguni Nayar, Founder & CEO, Nykaa, has been named EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2021.

Nayar will now represent India at the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year Award (WEOY) on  June 9.  Bhupender Yadav, Minister of Labour & Employment and Environment, Forest & Climate Change, was the chief guest at the ceremony.

The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year (EOY) Awards is a global business awards programme which is celebrated across 60 countries. The programme is in its 23rd year in India.

An investment banker-turned-entrepreneur, Nayar has disrupted a brick-and-mortar industry by taking the digital route to sell beauty products. Her start-up, Nykaa, is profitable and has a strong omni-channel presence.

“Over the last two years, she has diversified from beauty into fashion and lifestyle and has a well-established portfolio of over 2,600 international brands and 100 offline stores,” said EY. 

The company recently raised fresh capital for expansion through an IPO. Nayar was also the recipient of the EY Entrepreneur of The Year Award in the Start-up category in 2019.

“India is marching towards an inclusive and sustainable economy, which firmly believes in enabling and enhancing the efficiency and efficacy of our entrepreneurs. It is great to see that this year, EOY Awards has 21 finalists with combined revenues of Rs 1.87 trillion, who have collectively employed more than 2,60,000 people; this is a testimony to the nation’s entrepreneurial talent,” said Yadav in his address.

Lifetime achievement award

A.M. Naik, Group Chairman, Larsen & Toubro, was felicitated with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Naik joined L&T in 1965 and rose up the ranks to become the Chairman and Managing Director in 2003. 

“He has been instrumental in transforming the engineering services company into one of India’s foremost conglomerates, spanning engineering and construction, energy, finance and IT. Imbibing ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, he has given a strong ‘Make in India’ orientation to the company’s products and has engaged L&T in sectors of national significance, namely, defense, nuclear, energy, aerospace, infrastructure, oil & gas and power,” EY said.

Awards were also announced for nine other categories, with the winners representing both mature industries and young entrepreneurs from start-ups, including unicorns. Here is the complete list:

Category winners

Vidit Aatrey, Co-founder & CEO and Sanjeev Barnwal, Co-founder & CTO, Fashnear Technology (Meesho) won in the start-up category, while the award in the Business Transformation category was won by Abhay Soi, Chairman and Managing Director, Max Healthcare.

Winners in the Manufacturing, Services, Consumer Products & Retail, Life Sciences & Healthcare and Financial Services categories were Sunil Vachani, Founder and Executive Chairman, Dixon Technologies; Sahil Barua, Co-founder and CEO, Delhivery; Shiv Kishan Agarwal, Chairman; and Manohar Lal Agarwal, Chairman and Managing Director respectively, Haldiram Group; Dr. Satyanarayana Chava, Founder and CEO, Laurus Labs; and Harshil Mathur, Co-founder and CEO; and Shashank Kumar, Co-founder and CTO, Razorpay, respectively. 

Awards in the technology, media and telecom category went to Girish Mathrubootham, Co-founder and CEO, Freshworks, while in the Entrepreneurial CEO category, Vivek Vikram Singh, Managing Director and Group CEO, Sona Comstar, was the winner.

Rajiv Memani, Chairman and CEO, EY India, said, “The backdrop of the awards this year is one of the great resilience of India’s entrepreneurial ingenuity and the country’s growth prospects. Our EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2021 Winners should be celebrated for their success against all odds, especially in today’s business environment, which is more dynamic than ever before. Many of the winners are very young and have scaled their enterprises through innovation, adoption of new-age technologies, and value creation in a short span of time. I congratulate each one of them for paving the way for other aspiring entrepreneurs and achieving excellence in their respective sectors.”

Says Farokh Balsara, Partner and EOY India Program Leader, “Heartiest congratulations to our 2021 winners, who have shown incredible resilience to unlock new opportunities during uncertain times. Their entrepreneurial mindset, combined with agility and speed, has helped them grow their businesses exponentially, and build enabling processes, technologies, systems and structures.”

The winners were selected by a nine-member independent jury panel led by KV Kamath, former Chairman, ICICI Bank. Other members include Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson, Biocon; Vibha Padalkar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, HDFC Life; Neeraj Bharadwaj, Managing Director, The Carlyle Group; Amit Dixit, Head Asia Private Equity, Blackstone; Rajnish Kumar, former Chairman, State Bank of India; Harsh C. Mariwala, Chairman, Marico; Sanjiv Mehta, CEO and Managing Director, Hindustan Unilever; and Gopal Srinivasan, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director, TVS Capital Funds. 

The jury considered a host of criterion including “the nominee’s entrepreneurial spirit, ability to navigate through Covid-19, recent financial performance, strategic direction, product or service innovation, leadership, including personal integrity, and risk-taking ability, corporate governance, and social and environmental impact.”

KV Kamath, former Chairman, ICICI Bank, and Jury Chair of the EOY Awards 2021, said, “Each of the EOY 2021 Winners has an outstanding story of entrepreneurial excellence. They have pivoted and grown at a tremendous pace, adopted technology, and built very competitive businesses. On behalf of the jury, I congratulate all the 2021 finalists and winners, who are making a commendable impact in their respective ecosystems and truly represent the emergence of a new India.”

COMMENT NOW