How Rakesh Aggarwal built the Amazon of online beauty

From his parents' garage, Rakesh Aggarwal created his online startup Escentual - one of the foremost internet retailers for beauty products.

Halfway through his MBA, Rakesh Aggarwal realised what type of business he wanted to start: an online retailer. "It was 1999 and everyone was getting excited about internet firms." With just £8,000 of savings, what he really liked about internet retailing was the low cost. But what would he sell?

He settled on beauty products. "It allowed me to ride the coat-tails of others' marketing efforts. I would just have to convince customers about my site, not the products." By the time he finished his course in 2000 he was itching to get cracking.

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James McKeigue

James graduated from Keele University with a BA (Hons) in English literature and history, and has a certificate in journalism from the NCTJ. James has worked as a freelance journalist in various Latin American countries.He also had a spell at ITV, as welll as wring for Television Business International and covering the European equity markets for the Forbes.com London bureau. James has travelled extensively in emerging markets, reporting for international energy magazines such as Oil and Gas Investor, and institutional publications such as the Commonwealth Business Environment Report. He is currently the managing editor of LatAm INVESTOR, the UK's only Latin American finance magazine.