This Jamshedpur woman went against family, started lingerie brand that caught Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata’s eye

The success story of Richa Kar, the founder and former head of India’s leading lingerie brand is nothing short of inspiring. When the country was still surrounded by taboos around women’s innerwear, Richa Kar stood against society and became one of the leading female entrepreneurs in India.

Richa Kar, the founder of the Zivame lingerie company, came from a middle-class family in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. Her mother was a homemaker, and she came from a very traditional and conservative background.

Richa went to pursue an engineering degree from BITS Pilani and then joined the Narsee Monjee School of Management, where she expanded her knowledge of retail. The idea of starting a lingerie brand looked appealing to her when she was working for Limited, the parent company of Victoria’s Secret.

While entrepreneurship was already out of the ordinary for Richa’s family, her father, and relatives were strictly against her opening a lingerie brand due to societal constraints. However, Richa made Zivame a reality and a clear success.

Her family was worried about how they will explain to society that their daughter is selling bras and panties online. This didn’t hold Richa back and she focused on her goal of building an online platform where women can shop for lingerie without any shame.

As Zivame grew, it caught the eye of many big businessmen. Ratan Tata, former chairman of Tata Group, was one of the initial investors in Zivame in 2015, which took the company to a multi-million dollar level.

Zivame was a Rs 750 crore company when it caught the eye of Mukesh Ambani and his daughter Isha Ambani, who heads the company Reliance Retail and Brands. Soon Reliance Retail acquired Zivame for a whopping multi-million dollar deal, and the company now has a yearly revenue of over Rs 100 crore.

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