Vineeta Singh is an Indian businesswoman who is known for being the founder of the famous Indian cosmetic brand SUGAR which was started in 2015.
Wiki/Biography
Vineeta Singh was born in 1983 (age 40 years; as of 2023) in Anand, Gujarat, India. She did her schooling at Delhi Public School R. K. Puram, New Delhi, from 1987 to 2001. She pursued B.Tech in Electrical Engineering (2001-2005) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. In May 2004, she did her three-month summer internship at ITC Limited, Kolkata. She pursued MBA in 2005 from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. While pursuing MBA, she did an internship of three months at Deutsche Bank, London and New York. During her internship, she did projects with the emerging markets structuring team in London, and the strategic equity transaction group in New York.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 8″
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
Her father, Tej Singh, worked as a scientist at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. Her mother is a PhD holder.
Vineeta Singh with her parents, husband, and sons
Husband & Children
Vineeta got engaged to her college mate Kaushik Mukherjee on 15 October 2010, and the couple got married on 4 December 2011. Vineeta is a mother of two sons named Vikrant Mukherjee and Ranveer Mukherjee.
Vineeta Singh’s wedding picture
Vineeta Singh with her husband and sons
Career
After completing her MBA, in April 2007, she was appointed as the director at a Mumbai-based recruitment company Quetzal Online Private Limited. After working there for almost 5 years, she co-founded a beauty product supplying company in Mumbai ‘FAB BAG.’ She became one of the topmost female businesswomen in India after her cosmetic brand Sugar (started in 2015) gained immense popularity among the Indian cosmetic brands. As of 2021, Sugar cosmetics has more than 2500 outlets in more than 130 cities in India. In an interview, while talking about her cosmetic brand Sugar, she said,
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.”
Vineeta Singh with her husband at a Sugar cosmetic store
She further talked about the challenges she faced while setting up her company, she said,
When we tried raising capital, we were told that digital-first beauty will be a small market and that it would be impossible to compete with large FMCG companies without raising hundreds of millions of dollars. We were even told that the product itself won’t be a strong moat since it is a commodity.”
In 2021, her company acquired the rights from Warner Bros and launched SUGAR X WONDER WOMAN collection which gained immense popularity among Indian users. On 20 December 2021, she appeared as one of the judges on the TV reality show ‘Shark Tank India’ aired on the Sony channel. In the show, the entrepreneurs make business presentations to a panel of five investors or sharks and ask them to invest in their start-ups. Some of the start-ups in which Vineeta invested during the TV show were:
- Nocd Energy Drink (energy drink brand) 20 lakhs at 15% equity Vineeta Singh
- Blue pine Foods (Frozen food brand) 75 lakhs at 16% equity by Ashneer Grover, Vineeta Singh & Aman Gupta
- Ridebooz (Urban utility brand) 40 lakhs at 50% equity by Ashneer Grover & Vineeta Singh
- Mycosiq (Skincare brand) 50 lakhs at 25% equity by Vineeta Singh & Anupam Mittal
- Heart up my sleeves (Fashion accessories brand) 25 lakh at 30% equity by Vineeta Singh & Anupam Mittal
- Skippi ice pops (Popsicles)- 1 crore at 15% equity by Vineeta Singh and other judges
Awards & Achievements
- Start-up of the year award 2019 by Entrepreneur Awards, Delhi
Vineeta Singh receiving Startup of the Year Award
- Featured on the cover of Forbes Most Powerful Women (MPW) in Business (December 2021)
Vineeta Singh featured on the cover of Forbes magazine
- 40 Under 40 list by Economic Times (2021)
Favourites
Book(s)
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
- Pour Your Heart Into It by Howard Schultz
- The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger
- Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
- Tuesdays with Morrie Mitch Albom
- The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
- Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
- The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
- Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
Net Worth
In the financial year (2019-2020), her revenue was calculated around Rs. 100 crore.
Facts/Trivia
- While she was in college, she won various badminton competitions.
- In the initial years of her career, she faced various financial challenges. She even did a job of Rs. 10,000 salary a month to meet her expenses.
- After graduating from a business school, she got a placement job of Rs. 1 crore salary per annum, but she rejected the offer as she wanted to start her own business.
Vineeta Singh’s story covered by Week Magazine in 2007
- She is a marathoner & triathlete, and as of December 2021, she has participated in more than 14 marathons including Comrades Run of 89 km for three consecutive years in South Africa. Vineeta, along with her husband, completed the Iron Man Triathlon. Apart from running, she is involved in various sports like swimming and cycling. During an interview, while talking about participating in marathons, she said,
I started running many years back and I’ve probably participated in more than 14 Marathons and Full Marathons, around a 42 kilometres race. While participating in Ultra Marathons, I signed up for this race called Comrades, which is an 89 kilometres ultra marathon, held in South Africa and had to be completed within 12 hours. It’s the world’s largest and oldest ultramarathon race and I actually did it three times!”
She added,
In one of the years, I even won a bronze medal in that race. I’ve also participated in the Iron Man Triathlon along with my husband Kaushik where it’s 3.8 kilometres of open water followed by a 180 kilometres bicycle ride, which is then followed by 42 kilometres run and up to finish all of that within 17 hours to get the metric. And there have been many other Half Marathons and Triathlons held in India where I’ve got the podium finish. Even though I don’t consider them to be big achievements, I genuinely think that having a passion outside of work makes me a better person. And that’s why I follow it.”
- She is often spotted drinking alcohol at parties and events.
Vineeta Singh at a restaurant
- In an interview, she shared her mantra for success. She said,
If you want to do something world-class, you have to continuously contribute to your work and be patient about the results.”
- Her YouTube channel ‘Sugar Cosmetics’ has 423K subscribers as of January 2022.
- She has been featured in various business magazines.
Vineeta Singh featured in Business Today magazine (2021)
- In 2018, she was invited as a guest speaker at TEDx, Pune and the topic of her lecture was ‘How to turn your fears into wins.’
- In 2021, Vineeta appeared as one of the experts in the TV game show ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati.’
- In an interview, she was asked what was her motto that defined her work as well as personal life. She said,
Don’t fear bold decisions you strongly believe in. I always wanted to build a brand with women at the core and strived to convert that dream into reality. Another motto I learnt being a runner and entrepreneur is, no matter what challenge is thrown at us, agility matters. Growth is not about how fast you get to it, but how well you sustain it once you’ve arrived.”
Categories: Biography
Source: SCHOOL TRANG DAI
