Video Conference Encourages Entrepreneurship in Afghanistan

Three students from AUAF participated in a video conference with U.S. First Lady Laura Bush to discuss women's role in business in Afghanistan
 
Ms. Muzhgan Waseeq and Ms. Lida Nadery represented the Undergraduate Program, while Ms. Ludmila Hasanzada represented the 10,000 Women program, which provides training to Afghan women entrepreneurs.

Ms. Wasseq works as an executive secretary at a large construction firm in Afghanistan while pursuing her education in the evenings. Her account of the video conference is as follows:

First of all I would like to thank my company for giving me chance to work and study. I think of myself as one of the luckiest woman in Afghanistan to have the chance to work and attend classes at the American University of Afghanistan as well.

Recently, I was selected from amongst the students at AUAF to participate in a video conference with Mrs. Laura Bush to talk about women's economic participation in Afghanistan and how to continue building success.

I was very excited to go to the meeting and was ready to answer questions and give a speech. I met the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, William B. Wood. I was introduced as an employee of my company and a student at AUAF.

Before the video conference started, Ambassador Wood spoke about business and education in Afghanistan for women. Participants from Kabul included six Afghan women, four of which were from AUAF, and the Afghan Minister of Women's Affairs, the Honorable Hasan Bano Ghazanfar.

In Washington, we spoke with members of the U.S.-Afghan Women's Council, U.S. universities such as Georgetown University, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the U.S. State Department. They spoke about about supporting entrepreneurship in Afghanistan for women.

The video conference started with opening remarks by Mrs. Laura Bush. She encouraged Afghan and U.S. women to develop private partnerships between each other. She thought that U.S.-Afghan Women's Council could provide support to Afghan women on parts of their lives critical to building their own businesses, such as how to build new skills by seeking training and expertise.

We, the Afghan women present, were fully encouraged by all of U.S. participants to build our own business, and were assured of support in overcoming challenges such as lack of education, lack of proper facilities and infrastructure, and the precarious security situation in Afghanistan. 

While speaking with the women in Washington D.C., I had the impression that Afghan women are not alone. We have sisters in the U.S. who will help us to make our businesses a success. We can show the world that Afghan women can stand on their own feet and have an important role like women from other countries.

I felt that the U.S. women were sincere. The women from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. embassy encouraged us to have contact with them for any help. The U.S.-Afghan Women's Council has currently some projects for women in Afghanistan. 

I am very happy that I got the opportunity to meet Mrs. Laura Bush and the other participants, and I thank the U.S. for helping Afghanistan with its development and reconstruction.