By Tamana Taban
In the three years since setting up her produce shop, 24-year-old Mahroo* has developed a loyal customer base, won a reputation for selling quality goods, and supported dozens of local food producers who would otherwise struggle to find a market. It would be an impressive feat anywhere, but what makes Mahroo’s story truly remarkable is that it takes place in Afghanistan, under a regime that has made it difficult for women even to leave their homes, and all but impossible for them to work.
Three years ago, as the Taliban regime set about imposing ever tighter restrictions on women’s freedoms, Mahroo decided to throw everything she had at a new business. She was a second-year agriculture student when the Taliban barred women from attending university, and could see her career plans disappearing before her eyes. If she couldn’t get a job, she decided, she would set up on her own.
With her savings of 30,000 Afghanis ($430), Mahroo rented a small shop in Bamyan, the central Afghan city where she lives, and got to work.
“Each day was a new opportunity for me,” she said. “I had to make the most of every moment, work extremely hard. While so many others were confined to their homes under Taliban restrictions, I was fighting for a goal I had set for myself.”
In the two decades before the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan in 2021, female entrepreneurship steadily grew. Today, it is one of the only ways women can earn a living. Research by the Women and Children Research and Advocacy Network indicates more than 90% of women in Afghanistan have lost both their jobs since the Taliban returned to power. But restrictions imposed by the Taliban — from requiring women to be accompanied by a male relative at all times in public to making the hijab compulsory – make it ever more challenging for women to run their own businesses.
It took Mahroo two years to establish her business. “In the beginning, Taliban forces would often come to my shop and harass me for no reason. Sometimes I felt afraid and hopeless,” she said.
“But I kept telling myself that I shouldn’t give in. I reminded myself that anyone can work when the conditions are good, true success belongs to those who keep going even at the worst of times.”
Today, loyal customers flock to her shop to buy yoghurt and local dairy products like qurut – balls of dried, fermented milk used in cooking across Central Asia – and doogh, a fermented yoghurt drink. She manages the shop herself, starting early in the morning and working through until sunset.
– Role Model –
With her initial investment of just a few hundred dollars, she’s built a business worth over 400,000 Afghanis ($5,700) that supports dozens of female producers and has a reputation for selling high-quality goods.
But Mahroo is not satisfied with the independence that commercial success has brought her – she also wants to use that success to help create opportunities for other women in Bamyan too. Last year, she began organizing small dairy cooperatives for local women farmers in her area who were already producing food for their own families and wanted to sell the excess for extra income.
She provides basic training and equipment, and buys their produce for a set price, with the proceeds distributed among the cooperative members.
“Women in the villages work very hard, and get very little in return,” she said. “Imagine a woman who takes care of a cow all year round, but cannot earn even a single Afghani from it. Many don’t even know they can sell their milk, yogurt, and cheese, and in many places, the infrastructure to do that just doesn’t exist.”
Lack of infrastructure is not the only barrier. When Mahroo first approached women in the high-altitude summer pastures where livestock are taken for grazing during the warmer months, many were reluctant to sell, fearing it would be viewed as a sign of poverty and bring shame to their families.
Mahroo worked to change their minds, convincing them that far from being a source of shame, making produce to sell could help their families, and make them role models for others like them.
“We gathered them all together and formed a group. Then, over four sessions, we worked to shift their mindset, explaining that their dairy products are assets and should be brought to market at the right time,” she said.
“Otherwise, their year-round hard work amounts to nothing. That group is now one of our most active and successful.”
About once a month, Mahroo leaves the city and heads into the countryside to meet with her producers and hold workshops. From the start, she felt that women needed not only opportunities to sell their produce, but also knowledge and practical support. She provides training on nutrition and livestock care and helps them access vaccinations and veterinary services.
Mahroo’s youth and rapid success mark her out, and she is seen as a role model for girls and women in Bamyan. But she’s far from unique – many Afghan women are setting up small businesses, often out of necessity as the sole breadwinners for their families.
They face growing pressures, particularly in the wake of legislation introduced last year that severely restricted women’s rights and freedoms. Half the business-owners surveyed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for a study published this year said they’d encountered challenges arising from the restrictions, including a reluctance to lend money to women-led businesses and women being unable to travel to their place of work. Some said they’d had to shut down or operate in secret.
For Mahroom, the satisfaction that comes from seeing women in the villages working together to improve their own lives and those of their children makes it all worthwhile. Although the future is uncertain, she looks ahead with hope as she plans more programmes and an expansion of the work she’s doing.
“All the achievements were the result of months of hard work, but I never felt tired,” she said. “Although it’s too soon to say I’ve achieved something truly great, I can say that I’m satisfied with the progress I’ve made.”
Note*: Name changed to protect her identity
