Nidhima Kohli,

What do you do when work-related stress and pressures play havoc on your skin? Pile up on the beauty products or at best visit a dermat? Not if you are Nidhima Kohli. Frustrated with biased recommendations from beauticians and beauty counters working with brands, the London-based investment banker ditched her six-figure salary to build the world’s first Intelligent Beauty Matching Engine. The site is built with artificial intelligence and proprietary technology, which is able to match the algorithm of an individual’s skin concerns with an impartial beauty product. All the individual has to do is take an online quiz and answer a few questions about their skin type; hair type etc and then they instantly see beauty products matched to them personally in a price comparison format. “I worked with cosmetic scientists and data scientists to build a super-crazy algorithm that matched individual needs to beauty product.” Currently My Beauty Matches is UK’s largest online marketplace for buying beauty products with personal recommendations. Fame and adulation were quick to follow. Kohli was named a Top women Business Leader by the Guardian, Vogue mentioned her in its top 10 beauty entrepreneurs in the world and she also won The Guardian Startup of the Year award. The site works with 180 retailers within the UK and America and had even their first TV commercial aired in May this year on E! And E!+ channels. “I remember watching it in between the break of Keeping Up With The Kardashians and it was the best feeling ever to finally see your business up on live television.” If you are in the beauty business, be ready to be judged as an ‘airhead’, warns the 34-year-old. “You are not taken very seriously by certain people and some even make rude comments. But you learn to avoid those people after a few years in the industry,” says Kohli who idolises her businessman dad Sudhir Kohli and Jeff Bezos, the Chief Executive Officer of Amazon. Daily meditation sessions help her stay grounded while sailing and occasionally taking off to Barretoned in Notting Hill recharge her energies.

ADVICE TO FUTURE ENTREPRENEURS: Work on your resilience and pick up the right team to work with. And don’t just work hard… work smart