The actor, reality television personality and entrepreneur discussed creator earnings, her financial decisions in Paris and the early performance of her Moroccan-inspired skincare brand during an appearance on The 1% Club podcast hosted by Sharan Hegde.
Soundous Moufakir’s career has moved across finance, reality television, content creation and entrepreneurship. Now, with her skincare venture Moromaa, she is applying that experience to India’s competitive beauty and personal care market.
In a conversation on The 1% Club podcast with finance creator Sharan Hegde, Moufakir discussed the financial realities of working in entertainment, the decisions behind her move from Paris to India, and the funding and business strategy supporting her direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand.
Among the figures discussed were ₹1.5 crore in funding for Moromaa, a reported 91% founder ownership stake and first-month sales of ₹17 lakh against an initial projection of ₹5 lakh. Moufakir also described the business as profitable from its first month.
These figures offer an insight into the economics of a founder-led beauty startup, although the financial claims should be understood as statements from the podcast conversation rather than independently audited results.
Soundous Moufakir’s journey from reality television to business
Moufakir became widely recognised through Indian reality television, including MTV Splitsvilla X4, Khatron Ke Khiladi 13 and The Traitors.
Her transition into entrepreneurship represents a different professional challenge from building a public profile. While television exposure can introduce a personality to a large audience, converting recognition into a sustainable business requires a separate set of capabilities.
A consumer brand must establish its product positioning, earn customer trust, manage operating expenses and encourage repeat purchases. For a skincare startup, these priorities sit alongside product development, ingredient sourcing and clear communication about what its products offer.
Moufakir’s background includes an MBA in finance and experience in Paris before her entertainment career in India. She discussed how financial planning and her experiences as a creator influenced her decisions as a founder.
Her story also highlights an important distinction in the creator economy: audience visibility and business income are not necessarily consistent or interchangeable.
Six months without a brand deal: The uncertainty behind creator income
A significant part of the conversation focused on the unpredictable nature of influencer earnings.
Moufakir recalled going six months without a single brand deal after her reality television exposure. The experience illustrates why public recognition does not always translate into a steady stream of commercial opportunities.
Brand partnerships depend on several factors, including an advertiser’s target audience, campaign objectives, the creator’s relevance to a product and the commercial terms of an agreement. A large following alone does not guarantee regular work.
Moufakir also discussed the fees she can command for certain entertainment assignments, including a reported ₹30 lakh for a two-day song shoot. The podcast covered earnings associated with reality television appearances and the financial rewards of participating in shows such as Splitsvilla and Khatron Ke Khiladi.
Such figures are best interpreted in context. A quoted fee for an individual assignment is not equivalent to annual income or take-home earnings after taxes, commissions, management fees and other expenses. Rates can also vary considerably according to the project and the individual’s negotiating position.
For creators considering entrepreneurship, the wider lesson is that income diversification can reduce dependence on any single source of revenue, although running a business introduces its own financial risks.
From a finance career in Paris to starting over in India
Before building a career in Indian entertainment, Moufakir studied finance and worked in Paris. During the podcast, she described the financial decisions she made before moving to India.
According to the account shared in the conversation, she purchased an apartment in Paris whose value she estimated had increased from approximately ₹1.5 crore to ₹4 crore. She also discussed financing the property through a home loan with an interest rate of around 0.8%, renting it out and investing in land in Morocco.
She described working three jobs to establish a financial safety net before eventually moving to India with approximately ₹5 lakh.
These details provide a personal perspective on how she approached financial security while changing careers. However, the reported property valuation, loan terms, rental returns and investment performance have not been independently verified for this article.
Property appreciation alone does not establish an investment’s total return. Outstanding loan balances, transaction costs, maintenance, taxes and rental expenses all affect the financial outcome. Likewise, a low historical borrowing rate should not be taken as evidence that similar financing is generally available today.
For aspiring founders, the broader point is the importance of understanding personal finances before taking on the uncertainty of a new business.
Moromaa: Building a Moroccan-inspired skincare brand in India
Moufakir founded Moromaa to bring Moroccan-inspired beauty and skincare to Indian consumers, drawing on her connection to Moroccan culture and the country’s established association with ingredients such as argan oil.
The brand enters a market where consumers can choose from international beauty companies, established Indian manufacturers and a growing number of digital-first skincare labels.
For a new business, cultural identity can help establish a distinctive position. However, the strength of that positioning ultimately depends on whether customers find the products useful, trustworthy and worth purchasing again.
Ingredient sourcing is one aspect of this proposition. Argan oil is associated with Morocco, but quality, processing, purity and traceability can vary between suppliers and products. Transparent ingredient information and substantiated product claims are therefore important for a brand seeking to establish credibility.
A D2C model can give a company greater control over its brand presentation and direct customer relationships. It also requires the business to manage customer acquisition, fulfilment, customer service, returns and retention.
Moromaa’s challenge is to combine its Moroccan-inspired identity with a consistent product experience that can support growth beyond the initial attention surrounding its founder.
₹1.5 crore funding and 91% ownership: What the numbers mean
One of the most notable financial details discussed on the podcast was Moromaa’s reported ₹1.5 crore fundraising, with Moufakir retaining 91% ownership as a solo founder.
The conversation identified Aviral Bhatnagar of AJVC in connection with the investment.
If confirmed, the combination of external funding and a substantial founder stake would be relevant to understanding how the business has been financed and how ownership has been structured.
However, funding figures require careful interpretation. The amount raised does not, by itself, establish a company’s valuation, the precise terms of an investment or whether the capital was received in a single transaction. Similarly, a reported ownership percentage needs to be understood in relation to the company’s shareholding structure and any relevant investment instruments.
The details supplied for this article do not independently establish the investment’s legal structure, the company’s valuation or the exact basis on which the 91% figure was calculated.
For entrepreneurs, the broader issue is the balance between obtaining sufficient capital to build a business and preserving ownership. External investment can provide resources for product development, inventory, marketing and operations, but the appropriate funding structure depends on the company’s requirements and the terms negotiated with investors.
Moromaa’s reported funding and ownership figures make this an important area for further reporting, particularly if company records or direct confirmation from the parties become available.
₹17 lakh in first-month sales against a ₹5 lakh projection
Moufakir also discussed Moromaa’s early sales performance. According to the figures shared in the podcast, the brand recorded ₹17 lakh in sales during its first month, exceeding an initial projection of ₹5 lakh.
That represents sales equivalent to 3.4 times the original projection, assuming both figures cover the same period and use the same revenue definition.
The brand was also described as profitable from its first month of operations.
These claims, if supported by consistent financial records, would offer useful insight into the business’s early performance. However, sales and profitability are different measures.
Revenue indicates the value of sales generated, while profit depends on the costs associated with delivering those sales. A proper assessment would need to account for product costs, packaging, shipping, discounts, returns, advertising, employee expenses and other operating costs, as applicable.
The distinction between gross profit, contribution profit and net profit also matters. A business may generate positive margins on individual products while still reporting an overall operating loss once overheads and customer acquisition expenses are included.
The podcast account does not provide a detailed financial statement or specify the precise measure used to describe Moromaa as profitable. Hunterfly therefore cannot independently establish the brand’s profitability from the information currently available.
Still, the figures raise useful questions about the company’s launch strategy, the demand for its products and its ability to convert initial customer interest into repeat purchases.
Why repeat customers matter for D2C skincare
For a skincare company, long-term performance depends on more than the number of orders generated during a launch.
Customer retention can play an important role because satisfied buyers may return for replenishment or explore other products within the same range. Repeat purchases can also help a company understand which products deliver consistent value to its audience.
At the same time, retention must be assessed alongside product margins and the cost of acquiring customers. High sales volumes do not necessarily create a sustainable business if fulfilment expenses, marketing costs or product returns consume the available margin.
A useful assessment of Moromaa’s development would therefore consider repeat purchase rates, customer acquisition costs, average order values and contribution margins alongside revenue growth.
Moufakir’s emphasis on product quality and repeat customers reflects a relevant strategic question for digital-first beauty companies: can a brand build lasting customer relationships rather than rely primarily on launch publicity or paid advertising?
Evidence of sustained performance over several reporting periods would help answer that question.
What aspiring founders can learn from Soundous Moufakir’s journey
Moufakir’s transition from finance and entertainment into skincare illustrates how professional experience can be applied to a new industry.
Her experience as a creator offers familiarity with audience engagement and brand communication. Her finance background provides a foundation for thinking about budgets, borrowing and business performance. Her reported fundraising and early sales figures also highlight the importance of capital allocation and financial measurement in a growing consumer business.
There are several practical lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs.
First, a founder’s personal visibility can help introduce a brand to potential customers, but it cannot replace product quality or customer trust.
Second, raising money and retaining ownership are separate questions that should be evaluated through the terms of an investment, not just the headline funding amount.
Third, revenue targets and early sales figures should be assessed alongside margins, expenses and repeat purchases.
Finally, financial planning matters during a career transition. Personal savings and a clear understanding of financial commitments can provide flexibility, although they cannot eliminate the risks involved in launching a business.
Hunterfly Take
Soundous Moufakir’s move from reality television to entrepreneurship brings together three subjects that are increasingly relevant to India’s consumer economy: creator monetisation, founder-led branding and the growth of digital-first beauty businesses.
The reported ₹1.5 crore funding, 91% founder ownership and ₹17 lakh in first-month sales make Moromaa a potentially interesting case study in early-stage brand building. Its longer-term progress, however, will depend on factors that cannot be established through launch figures alone, including customer retention, product economics and sustained profitability.
For aspiring founders, the most useful takeaway is not simply that a public personality can launch a skincare brand. It is that turning visibility into a durable business requires financial discipline, a credible product proposition and evidence that customers continue to find value in what the company sells.
