Vineeta Singh: IIM Alumnus Who Rejected Rs 1 Crore Offer To Build Her Own Empire

For a woman, who is still in her twenties and yet to graduate from the college, it takes a lot of grit to decline the job offer of Rs 1 crore. But that’s how you make a name for yourself, by taking up the new challenges and turning them into the golden opportunities. Vineeta Singh, Co-founder and CEO of Sugar Cosmetics, is one such woman who has inspired several young girls to take the risks with sheer determination and shape their fates on their own terms. A very few people know this, Sugar is Vineeta Singh’s third startup company – the first two failed but the failures didn’t dampen her enthusiasm and she kept working hard to make her dream venture a huge success.

Delve deeper to know how this inspirational businesswoman ruled the roost of cosmetic industry?

Life before Sugar

Vineeta Singh completed her Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras. Later, she pursued MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. During her tenure at the IIM Ahmedabad, Vineeta received a crore-rupee job offer from an investment bank but she turned down the opportunity as the thought of starting her own venture was clear in her head from the very first day.

Vineeta’s courage for declining this huge opportunity didn’t go unnoticed as she was featured on the cover of the WEEK magazine for becoming India’s first and youngest B-school graduate to reject a placement offer of INR 1 Crore.

Her vision behind launching Sugar Cosmetics

One thing which Vineeta Singh realised at a very early stage was that Indian women had always struggled to get the right shade of cosmetics for their skin tone. Indians have always relied on the foreign brands when it comes to using good and skin-friendly cosmetics. That’s what instigated Vineeta to launch Sugar in the market. She wanted to create makeup products solely for Indian skin tones. Hence, Vineeta along with her husband Kaushik Mukherjee launched Sugar Cosmetics, a direct-to-consumer brand, in 2015. The brand was marketed extremely well as it managed to create a buzz on social media through different platforms such as Instagram, Facebook etc. Plus, the company aimed to specifically targeting the female audience in the age bracket of 20-35 years.

Obstacles in the road to success

It was not a cakewalk for Vineeta Singh and Kaushik to establish Sugar as one of the most trusted brands in the cosmetic industry. They faced many obstacles in the beginning of their journey when they launched the digital-first beauty market. However, in a big turn of events, the India Quotient; a Singapore-based RB Investments invested in Sugar in an undisclosed Series A financing in 2017. After that funding, there was no turning back for Vineeta and her husband as their brand attained the new heights of success.

The sweet success

It was the deep understanding of customer preferences and connect with the millennial audience that enabled Sugar to step into a crowded category already dominated by huge global companies, from Lakmé to L’Oréal. The brand now sells more than 650,000 products per month. Not only this, it has earned a huge customer base on social media with millions of followers on Instagram. Moreover, the app of Sugar Cosmetics has more than 1 million downloads so far. Apart from online, the company has offline stores across 130+ cities in India.