Summary

Vineeta Singh was born on August 6, 1983, in Anand, Gujarat. Vineeta, along with her husband, Kaushik Mukherjee founded SUGAR Cosmetics. At a time when leading beauty brands were only catering to lighter skin tones, SUGAR Cosmetics emerged as a market disruptor, offering products designed for the Indian skin tone.

Vineeta earned her bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Indian Institue of Technology, Madras and went on to obtain an MBA from Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad. During her studies at IIM Ahmedabad, Vineeta interned at Deutsche Bank and landed an offer to join as an associate after she graduated. However, she rejected the offer to establish her first start-up.

Personal Information

Achievements

• 2017: Vineeta completed the Ironman Triathlon in Austria.
• 2019: The Entrepreneur magazine presented SUGAR Cosmetics with the Retail Start-Up of the Year Award.
• 2021: Forbes India awarded Vineeta the W-Power Award and was listed in Fortune’s 40 Under 40.
• 2022: She won the BW Disrupt 40 Under 40 Award by Businessworld.
• 2022: Vineeta was listed as part of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders List.

Major Timelines

• 2007: Vineeta Singh, along with four other alumni of IIM Ahmedabad, founded Quetzal Online which provided recruitment and background verification services to corporates.
• 2012: Vineeta founded Fab Bag, a beauty subscription service that delivered bags of beauty products to members monthly.
• 2015: After the failure of her last two ventures, Vineeta and her husband launched SUGAR Cosmetics.
• 2016: SUGAR Cosmetics, under the leadership of Vineeta, partnered with Nykaa and Amazon to sell its products.
• 2018: SUGAR Cosmetics launched its first offline store in Mumbai and expanded its product line to include skincare and haircare products.
• 2020: SUGAR Cosmetics launched its first international store in Dubai.

Challenges & Controversies

After declining a Rs 1 crore annual salary offer from Deutsche Bank, Vineeta faced challenges after the failure of her first two start-ups.

Vineeta entered a saturated beauty market which posed a significant hurdle. She was competing against several well-established international brands which required innovative strategies and a deep understanding of the Indian consumer base.