LocationsAfghan women entrepreneurs overcoming odds, seek investment
“I’m proud I built this company.”
May 15, 2025
Mozghan Mohamadi, a mother of five, is the owner of a tailoring business and the head of the community centre rehabilitated by the EU and UNDP in Deh-Mirsad village, Pashtun Zarghun district, Herat province, Afghanistan.
Photo: UNDP Afghanistan/Elise Blanchard
When the ban on female beauticians in Afghanistan was enforced, Shirzoy, from Qala-e-Naw lost her salon business and one of the things that gave her life meaning.
“I felt heartbroken and fell into depression,” she says.
Since the Taliban's takeover in 2021, constraints on women in the workforce have marginalized women and made Afghanistan US$2 billion poorer in GDP terms, according to UNDP estimates. Household per capita income has nosedived by nearly half.
With women's employment at just 7 percent in 2023 and increasing restrictions on mobility and jobs, small businesses have become one of the few viable alternatives for the 80 percent of women-led households who rely on them.
Solidarity, empowerment, support
Women-led enterprises are spaces of solidarity, empowerment, emotional support, and social networking.
With UNDP support Shirzoy, the sole provider for her family of seven, was able to start over. She now runs a small handicrafts business, producing items such as woven carpets.
“Working alongside other women has improved my mental well-being. We even received international orders, which gave me hope and the strength to stand on my own again.”
- Shirzoy
With UNDP support Shirzoy has been able to start over after losing her beauty salon.
Photo: UNDP Afghanistan
Many considered it an unusual move when UNDP started in 2022 helping existing women-owned businesses to remain afloat and new ones to be established. Three years later 80,000 businesses have received training, finance, access to new markets, energy or digitalization, generating 400,000 jobs.
For many Afghan women being able to work and connect with others outside the home is life changing. It promotes confidence, healing, independence and hope.
Women as part of society
“Psychologically, it’s so important for women to be part of society,” said Shabita Omidwar, who runs ARS Saffron in Herat. Backed by a UNDP initiative funded by the European Union, Shabita was able to upgrade her equipment, hire 20 women and raise their salaries.
“I am proud I built this company and that I can offer jobs to other women. Having their own income means they don’t have to depend on anyone or beg.”
- Shabita
Shabita Omidwar runs ARS Saffron and received a grant from UNDP/EU.
Photo: UNDP Afghanistan/Elise Blanchard
UNDP and EU support is helping ARS Saffron expand its operations and find new markets.
Photo: UNDP Afghanistan/Elise Blanchard
New restrictions, such as the Morality Law of 2024, have significantly increased operational challenges. A UNDP survey of over 600 women-owned businesses reveals a picture of resilience amidst adversity. The law has hindered marketing efforts for nearly half of those, complicating work-related travel, and raising operational costs due to women being required to have mahram, a male escort. Over a quarter of businesses have faced strict dress codes and gender segregation. As these challenges mount, women entrepreneurs are finding it increasingly difficult to get financing. Yet they persist. An overwhelming 76 percent said they intend to continue operating, and only 6 percent were considering shutting down.
What businesses need to grow
A first step is moving out of the ‘micro trap’. Women owners find it much harder to get bank loans and often rely on microcredits or debt to pay for continuity or expansion. Many do not own collateral, and assets are often not in their name. They also lack financial, marketing, and management skills.
Susan runs a restaurant in Qala-e-Naw, specializing in mantus and ashaks, traditional Afghan dumplings, and takes orders for weddings and parties. She tried to get a loan from a bank but could not afford the terms.
Susan was unable to get a bank loan for her restaurant business because she could not afford the terms.
Photo: UNDP Afghanistan
“I am proud of how far I've come, but one of my main challenges is still insufficient capital. One of my dreams is to open a restaurant in Herat City to serve food to people coming from abroad.”
- Susan
Most of these businesses, like Susan’s, are home-based. Helping them grow can break the tightening bondage that is spurring a mental health crisis among Afghan women.
“A place to work freely.”
In the rural district of Pashtun Zarghun a newly rehabilitated women’s community centre trains more than 170 women in sewing, carpet weaving and embroidery as a path to economic independence.
"For many of us, it's the first time we’ve had a place to work freely. Here, women talk, share problems, laugh together. It’s healing."- Mozghan Mohamadi, mother of five and head of the women’s community centre
Women-led enterprises are spaces of solidarity, empowerment, emotional support, and social networking.
Photo: UNDP Afghanistan/Elise Blanchard
Demand exceeds capacity at the centre, which could use more capital, materials and equipment.
“Many more women here hope to work, build their businesses and earn money so they can stand on their own feet.”
- Mozghan
A second track is helping larger businesses, many of them already employing hundreds of women, to expand their operations and navigate obstacles. Financing, training programmes and initiatives to improve market access are fundamental. Vocational training can provide work and life skills for women and girls with few other learning options, while women-owned businesses provide essential platforms for networking and problem-solving.
Photo: UNDP Afghanistan
Photo: UNDP Afghanistan
Watts the difference
Energy, too, plays a vital role. In a country where electricity is expensive and unreliable, solar energy is helping women entrepreneurs reduce costs and increase productivity. Businesses can stay open for longer, and offer improved working conditions, with better ventilation and heating.
In Kabul, Safe Path Prosperity produces sanitary products for women—a vital service in a country where more than 90 percent of women have to make do without. UNDP, thanks to support from the Government of Japan, installed solar panels which meant the enterprise could expand hours and reduce energy costs.
"Our mission is simple yet transformative: to create dignified employment opportunities for socially and economically vulnerable women and girls in Afghanistan. We're not just operating machines, we're illuminating a path to economic resilience for Afghan women and girls.”
- Arezo Osmani, team leader
One of the most difficult aspects of Osmani’s job is saying ‘no’ to the women who come every day seeking work, proving the enormous appetite and potential of meaningful, dignified employment.
UNDP’s work on women-led businesses, with the support of our donors and core partners has had an enormous impact with a relatively small financial input. Apart from the hundreds of thousands of immediate jobs it created, it has improved living conditions for nearly 2.7 million people.
Afghan women are not asking for handouts, but for a fair shot at success. Against all odds, they are generating income, jobs and creating richer and more fulfilling lives for women and girls. Expanding access to finance, securing guarantees for loans, offering preferential conditions in international markets, and developing support can accompany women-owned businesses along their trajectory and will shape a more prosperous future for Afghanistan.
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