The project propelling female entrepreneurship in Afghanistan 

By Georgia Goble

Picture credit: Selene Biffi

In 2021, after the Taliban took hold of Kabul, Selene Biffi helped her Afghan students escape to safety. Biffi ran a school for storytelling, an academy that aimed to preserve traditional Afghan folktales, allowing storytellers to pass down their craft to younger generations. 

After the political situation prevented her aspirations in the realm of education, Biffi is back on the ground with similarly inspiring ambitions, helping Afghan women start and run their own businesses. 

Picture: Biffi in Afghanistan/ Credit: Selene Biffi

The jobs available to women in Afghanistan are limited, restricted to sectors like nursing and primary education. Entrepreneurship and assisting other small businesses remain some of the only viable options. 

But the economic situation in the country is tough. In addition to the obvious humanitarian crisis since August 2021 following the fall of Kabul, Afghanistan was also propelled into a major economic crisis.

GDP fell by 20.7% in the same year and continued to contract by a further 6.2% in 2022. In 2023, a reported 57% of enterprises closed or were operating at reduced capacity. 

Graph: GDP in Afghanistan over time

Data shows that women were the most drastically impacted. According to a 2022 report, 42% of women-owned businesses surveyed had temporarily closed, compared to 26% of firms owned by men.

80% of Afghanistan’s population lives below the poverty line of $1.25/day, and restrictions on women’s work continue to exacerbate this insecurity.

A UN report published in April this year shows a range of issues and barriers impacting female entrepreneurs, including difficulties in accessing finance and credit, discrimination against women preventing access to markets and suppliers, a loss of access to export markets and difficulty accessing equipment. 

And that’s where Biffi comes in, with the hope of transforming things for the lives of women and their families all across the country. 

‘She Works For Peace’ is a non-profit organisation founded by Biffi in 2022. Created as a more sustainable solution to poverty and survival than one-off humanitarian aid, the organization aims to help women in conflict areas rebuild their families and communities through entrepreneurship and employment.

“While humanitarian aid can provide immediate relief, it cannot be a long-term intervention, you need to build skills and technical knowledge”, says Biffi. “Then you can rebuild the social and economic fabric of both families and communities from within.”

Source: BBC Newsnight/Youtube

In the first year, the project started off offering cash and technical support to help women’s businesses, reaching around 300 women. “Our biggest success in the first year was helping to reopen a women-led pasta-making factory in northern Afghanistan,” says Biffi.

With some help, the factory went from having two to 15 women workers, greatly increasing their production and turning a profit. “They're now selling all over Afghanistan,” she adds.

Since then the organisation’s efforts have expanded with the opening of a call centre in 2023 called Bale Khanom– which means Hello ma'am in Arabic– the first of its kind in Afghanistan.

The call centre advises women on business and management matters over the phone, in areas like accounting, marketing, credit sales or financial management. 

“Women will ask things like ‘I want to sell on Instagram, how do I do that?’" says Biffi. "Or ‘I’m selling my products, I have a good number of clients, but at the end of the month I don’t have any money in my pocket. What am I doing wrong?’

"Other women, many of whom are very desperate and in need of money ask ‘I need to support my family. I need a business idea. Where do I start?'”

Biffi recounts the story of a woman she helped named Khadijah, 32, from the province of Bamyan, who runs a pastry and cake shop. While her business made many sales and had many customers, she was struggling to turn a profit at the end of the month.

Photo credit: Selene Biffi. Caption: Cakes from Khadijah's bakery

After receiving advice on financial management, sustainable growth, market competition and customer value, Khadijah undertook a process of meticulously calculating business costs on things like ingredients, pricing and the transportation of her products.

A few months down the line, her business started making a profit, and she was better positioned to provide for her children. 

Photo credit: Selene Biffi. Caption: Khadija's bakery

The call centre has received over two thousand calls so far with many repeat callers, advising female entrepreneurs between the ages of 14 and 70 from all 34 of Afghanistan’s provinces. 

Women’s businesses in the country most often operate in the areas of agriculture, animal husbandry, carpet weaving, handicrafts, tailoring and food production, according to a 2021 report by the Afghanistan Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry. 

This year, the organisation founded a new project– ‘'ada’ or ‘Tool’ – a free ‘tool library’ where women can borrow and access materials, machinery and equipment for their businesses operating across these sectors.

“The project is about practical solutions," says Biffi. "But it’s also about helping women grow self-confidence through developing skills, to find strength through seeing the role that they can play in their families and communities through their work.”

It seems that women’s businesses are doing just that, with a UN report published recently showing that they’re “serving as vital pillars of economic stability and hope amidst adversity”.

The report also shows that an encouraging 66% of women reported growth in their businesses over the past year.

Next steps 

Biffi’s ambitious plans to support the country are far from dwindling. As well as turning her attention to the development of digital skills amongst entrepreneurs, she's also aiming to overhaul the agricultural sector in the realm of long-term food security by helping women build home-based hydroponic plants, a rarity in the country. 

She said: “The women participating in these projects are from a very very destitute district, where the women all have large families to feed, living in areas without much opportunity.

"I’m hoping that hydroponics will kill two birds with one stone, allowing families to be fed, as well as forming a viable business opportunity.

“Though that’s not to say it’s a particularly easy project to get underway.

“Finding donors who would take a risk on these kinds of projects was very difficult, these aren’t your regular development cooperation projects, they’re innovative in a context such as Afghanistan.”

“It would be great if access to funding, tools and support for female entrepreneurs continues to improve,” says Husna.

“But what I really wish is that the gates of schools reopen for girls in Afghanistan, and that no women in any corner of the earth go through as much restriction and insecurity as we have. 

“I will keep trying to support the women and girls of Afghanistan and those who are deprived of their human rights to stand stronger and taller to get their rights back.”