By: Geetanjali
Untold Story of Vineeta Singh: Rejected One Crore Job Offer
Inspiring generations of women and aspiring entrepreneurs Vineeta Singh, Co-Founder and CEO of Sugar Cosmetics motivated thousands with her leadership, adaptability, discipline, and dedication.
As a female entrepreneur in a male dominated industry, her success story is one of a kind. Her expedition from starting two failed businesses to building a renowned cosmetic brand like SUGAR and competing against long standing international cosmetic brands was not a bed of roses. Let’s take a look into her journey as an entrepreneur.
Vineeta Singh Biography
| Name | Vineeta Singh |
| Date of Birth | 1983 |
| Birth Place | Anand, Gujrat |
| Spouse | Kaushik Mukherjee (m.2011) |
| Children | Two children (Vikrant and Ranveer) |
| Schooling | Delhi Public School, R.K Puram |
| Highest Qualification | IIM Ahmedabad (MBA), IIT Madras (B.Tech) |
| Occupation | Co-founder, and CEO SUGAR Cosmetics. |
| Networth | Rs.660 Crore |
| Brand Evaluation | Rs.500 Crore |
Shark Tank’s judge Vineeta Singh has always been resilient throughout her life. She credits her father Tej Pratap Singh who is a scientist at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) for her obstinacy and dedication toward her aim, weather it be going for MBA at IIM (Ahmedabad) after completing her graduation from (IIT) in electrical engineering to declining one crore job offer from Deutsche Bank during her 2nd year in MBA to pursue her passion in entrepreneurship.
Founding SUGAR Cosmetics
Founding SUGAR Cosmetics, one of India’s leading make-up brands came with a lot of twists and turns. Along with her Co-Founder and life partner Kaushik Mukherjee she decided to launch a make-up brand with the vision of providing long-lasting and transfer-proof make-up of International quality to Indian womens.
In an interview she mentioned that she always wanted to build a women centric brand, that’s why she chose to launch a cosmetic brand which also has 75% of its workforce as female employees. Though SUGAR was not her first venture, her entrepreneurship journey started back in 2007 when she founded Quetzal (it provided verification checks to recruiters while hiring a candidate) which unfortunately didn’t do well.
Then in 2012 she started her second startup, Fab-Bag which was a subscription based platform that provided monthly beauty products to its customers. It was related to the beauty industry but didn’t grow into a successful venture.
Later in 2015 she launched SUGAR cosmetics which became an instant hit in the Indian market, the reason behind was Vineeta’s market study which she did with the data collected from Fab-Bag to understand the gap between the consumer preferences and available products in the market.
Awards and Achievement
Vineeta is an entrepreneur, mother, wife, daughter, and an athlete. She has won numerous awards in both personal or professional spheres.
| Award Name | Event |
| 2 Gold Medals and 2 Silver Medals | Inter IIT Sports meet |
| Startup of The Year Award (2019) | Entrepreneur Awards |
| W-Power Awards | Forbes India |
| BW Disrupt 40 under 40 Award | Businessworld |
| 40 Under 40 Award | Fortune’s |
Vineeta mentioned in some interviews that she had to face discrimination being a woman in a male dominated profession, which was a barrier while fundraising for SUGAR Cosmetics, though with her resilience and knowledge in the field smashed limitations that came forward . Her journey empowers women to pursue their passion in entrepreneurship.
