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Vineeta Singh Is Disrupting

What It Means To Be A
Woman In The Business
Somya Bansal | Dec 19, 2022
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Vineeta Singh’s rip-roaring, awe-inspiring

success story is one of persistence and
resilience. She was only 23 when she
declined a 1 Crore job offer from an
investment bank, to start her
entrepreneurial journey. Now – 10 years,
$85.5 million in funding and Rs.500 Crore
annualized revenue later – the SUGAR
Cosmetics co-founder knows everything
one needs to build a brand. The Shark Tank
India’s most loved judge, Vineeta Singh’s
heart-centered approach to leadership
along with her diverse talents and
consistent efforts has been significant to
her success.

“To be successful, you really need to be

irrationally passionate!” she says.

Even while chasing terrifying goals, Vineeta

Singh is motivated to create a successful
empire doing what she is passionate about -
building the best company for women to
work at. Inspired by her father, who took a
challenge at the beginning of his career to
beat a Nobel Laureate, and then actually
accomplishing it 50 years later, Vineeta
Singh never backed down from a challenge.
Her story of ushering in the new age of
businesswomen is perfused with hard work,
determination and ethics.

How Vineeta Singh Decided To

Become An Entrepreneur?

In a conversation with a professor about her

career choices at 17, he mentioned that she
should become an entrepreneur.
Commencing on his advice, she immediately
prepared herself to jump on that bandwagon
of actually becoming one. After graduating
from IIT Madras and IIM Ahmedabad,
Vineeta set sail with the idea ‘You can be an
entrepreneur only by actually being one!’ And
we couldn’t agree more! Her career
adventures and undertaking have
demonstrated that she can accomplish
anything; making her one of the most
powerful and endearing women
entrepreneurs in the industry.

How Did Vineeta Singh Begin Her

Journey In The Beauty Industry?

In 2012, it was Vineeta Singh and Kaushik

Mukherjee’s (Cofounder, SUGAR Cosmetics)
intuition that the beauty industry serving
women will explode as young women were
stepping out from the patriarchal molds and
carving their own paths. That is when the
idea of Fab Bag - a subscription-based
customizable beauty kit, was born - this was
the beginning, ascent of an inspiring young
woman entrepreneur.

“Once, an investor refused to meet me. He

wanted to talk business with a ‘man’. But I let
my work do the talking.” she says.

It’s hard to imagine now, but when Vineeta

was pitching her entrepreneurial business in
the early 2010s, people and investors were
skeptical. But with her unbreakable spirit and
belief in herself, she gathered early funds,
traveled to Hong Kong herself to source the
first batch of products to be delivered on
time. It did not scare her even when her
plans were questioned, and we witnessed
the birth of a remarkably successful
business. Vineeta continually developed the
company’s strategy throughout the years
and was instrumental in the success of
building a huge customer base.

How Vineeta Singh Founded

SUGAR Cosmetics?

“I always felt strongly about building

something with women as the core
customer, so when my first startup didn’t
scale, I decided to launch a beauty
subscription company with my co-founder
Kaushik, in 2012. The 200,000 women who
shared their detailed beauty preferences
with us were at the heart of our pivot to
SUGAR Cosmetics, which launched as a
direct-to-consumer makeup brand in 2015.”,
the SUGAR Cosmetics founder says.

In 2015, something that became clear to

Vineeta during this entrepreneurial journey
was her innate ability to analyze and
understand what women wanted from the
beauty industry. On the basis of the
feedback data from the FAB Bag consumers,
she quickly identified the need for transfer-
proof and long-lasting makeup in the beauty
industry. She trusted her intuition and vision
to create the best company there is for
women and still continues to do so.

In a recent interview, Vineeta shared a story

of an investor meeting while she was
pregnant and how terrified she was to inform
them about such a lovely yet huge addition
to their lives. But she found bravery in her
convictions, unleashed her inner power and
marched ahead with high heels, quirky
shoes, glitter and glam.

With Rs.1 Crore personal loan from an early

investor, Vineeta Singh set about
establishing her own range of crayon
lipsticks which were manufactured in
Germany. This was the springboard that saw
SUGAR Cosmetics become the brand it is
today. She wasn’t just launching a brand, she
was voicing the needs of many young
women in the country.

“More than providing skills and training

programmes, what women need is to see
women succeeding and their success being
celebrated to inspire others.”

Living up to her words, SUGAR Cosmetics’

workforce accounts for 75% of women
employees. With a dream to hire 10,000
women in her company, Vineeta Singh has
been a driving force for young women
everywhere - be it her in-house employees or
Shark Tank India pitchers.

In August 2022, SUGAR Cosmetics CEO took

to twitter and mentioned, “If you're leaving a
corporate career to work at a startup,
remember that one of the most important
ingredients you'll need to succeed there is
belief! Setbacks are inevitable and way too
many people interrupt compounding by not
having enough belief."

She further added, “Belief is a rare trait

because it often defies logic and it can't be
taught at schools or in online courses. It's
those moments when you decide to keep
pushing through tough times that end up
determining how enriching your startup
journey will be."

In 2019, Vineeta Singh saw another

milestone in her entrepreneurial journey - the
launch of the first-ever exclusive brand outlet
in Kolkata. And well, as they say, the rest is
history now.

How Does Vineeta Singh Do It All?

A mother. A wife. A daughter. An

entrepreneur. A woman entrepreneur. An
athlete. A shark. A mentor. Phew! How does
she do it all? Vineeta Singh in her LinkedIn
post mentions, “Be courageous, show up. It's
your start line.” Whether it was completing a
21km marathon while being six months
pregnant, or her first triathlon while carrying
her 11-month old baby (Goosebumps - every
single time), Vineeta Singh believes in having
the guts to show up at the start line and grit
to stay on the course. She never let her fears
drive her into action.

Four H’s Of Vineeta Singh’s

Entrepreneurial Journey

SUGAR Cosmetics, recently launched

Vineeta’s makeup kit which saw an
overwhelming response from consumers
and was sold out within hours of its launch.
With more than 1M+ downloads on the app
stores, becoming the no.1 consumer brand
in India on Instagram - the cosmetic brand
has been growing like never before. From
opening the first SUGAR store in 2019 to
125+ exclusive stores today, Vineeta Singh
conquered the beauty industry and how.

‘My story is so imperfect that it sort of can

motivate young men and women to be more
and to do more.’, she says.

Vineeta Singh’s entrepreneurial journey has

been a story of Hunger, Hustle, Humility and
Humour - the four H’s our powerhouse CEO,
SUGAR Cosmetics believes in. With hunger
in your idea, hustle in your action, humility in
your words and humour to build it all - you
can achieve what you set your mind to.

Somya Bansal

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