Kamela Sediqi:
During the Taliban era, to support my family, I started in secret a tailoring business, which at its peak provided income for more than 100 women. Later, I worked on different business projects with international development groups. When the Taliban regime fell, I started a construction company and enrolled into business management programs run by international organizations, such as Thunderbird University and Bpeace. With the knowledge gained from these programs, I started Kaweyan Business Development Services (Kaweyan BDS).

I started Kaweyan BDS, a consulting firm, in 2004 with one laptop and a slow Internet connection. Today, the firm employs 10 full-time workers and six part-timers in well equipped offices in Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif.

I believe that private initiative can improve lives of both men and women in my country. Entrepreneurs here can use their skills and hard work to support their families and their communities. Those who become entrepreneurs also are more likely to afford investment in their children’s education, which means the next generation – both boys and girls – will have a wider range of career choices.

My firm teaches business skills to Afghans interested in starting their own companies. In 2009, working with international aid and development groups as well as the Afghan government, it ran training projects and hosted business events in nine provinces. In the same year, my firm was one of three Afghan companies selected to enter into a partnership with the World Bank’s IFC designed to run “Business Edge” in Afghanistan, an interactive learning program that aims to help managers improve their business and managerial skills. By participating in this program, we hope to grow our client base and expand entrepreneurship culture in the country.

My goal is to make Kaweyan BDS Afghanistan’s leading business development consultancy, with offices all around the country and the region. This is my contribution toward efforts to build a brighter future for my country and for the next generation of Afghanis.

Michael Ducker:
Ms. Sediki is what we call in the U.S. a serial entrepreneur, always able to find business opportunities even in the most difficult environment.

Kaweyan BDS has changed quite of bit over the last seven years, starting from general business training in areas like accounting and business planning and later focusing more on specific needs of entrepreneurs like how to fill out an application for a bank loan or how to implement World GAP standards, which certify agricultural products, so you can export your vegetables to Europe.

It is a joy to see catalysts like Kaweyan BDS supporting entrepreneurs to grow and create more jobs.

I think Ms. Sediki may get even more business by creating services that address entrepreneurship’s biggest constraints. A way to do this is to focus on a specific, large industry in Afghanistan, for example marble and granitite, and work on developing training on important issues like the use of proper cutting techniques.

Kaweyan BDS also might want to focus on helping to break down cultural barriers for entrepreneurs. From my experience of working with entrepreneurs in Pakistan, I know they have to deal with many cultural constraints. This might be that small- and medium-size business owners only do business with people of their own ethnic group or the inability of a young entrepreneur to get financing or enter into new markets.

One way to start breaking down these barriers is to facilitate contacts between different groups and bring them together based on business needs. For example, why not create an “angel network” through which successful Afghan businessmen offer small investment and advice to young entrepreneurs? This would be a great way for established businessmen to find higher return for their investment money and at the same time give young entrepreneurs what they need to grow.