From Geneva to India: Simone Tata's entrepreneurial odyssey

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. In the summer of 1953, 23-year-old Simone Dunoyer from Geneva arrived in India for a holiday. During her stay, she met Naval Hormusji Tata—26 years her senior and divorced from his first wife, Soonoo.

The two fell in love, and in 1955, they got married. While this could have been a simple fairy tale ending, Simone had bigger aspirations. She would go on to become one of India’s most successful entrepreneurs.

Today, her son Noel Tata, half brother to Ratan Tata, stands poised to lead the Tata group of companies. As chairman of Tata Trusts, which controls the group’s entities through Tata Sons, Noel will play a pivotal role in steering the future of the 155-year-old conglomerate. His achievements with Trent Ltd—now among the top retailers in the country and a significant contributor to Tata’s $365 billion market capitalization—demonstrate his capability for the job.

But Trent's success traces back to Simone Tata's pioneering efforts. Marriage into the illustrious Tata family did little to dim her ambition. With the support of the legendary J.R.D.

Tata, she was appointed managing director of Lakmé in 1961. At the time, Lakmé was a minor subsidiary of Tata Oil Mills, originally set up in 1917 by Dorabji Tata. Though it gained some recognition for products like Hamam, Okay, and Moti soaps, it remained a low-margin business, overshadowed by the group’s focus on steel, automobiles, chemicals, and power.

Simone, however, had other plans. She identified a shift in the 1960s: a generation of post-independence Indian women seeking affordable beauty products. Over two decades, she transformed Lakmé into India’s largest cosmetics brand through a blend of hands-on management and strategic