On December 28, 2019, the Pakistan women-led delegation, headed by Ambassador Tasnim Aslam, met with former Deputy Minister of Commerce & Industries of Afghanistan, Ms. Kamila Sidiqi, in Kabul. Ms. Kamila welcomed the delegation warmly and shared her experiences of setting up businesses in Afghanistan while inquiring from the Pakistani delegation to share what it is like in Pakistan.
Shedding light on her entrepreneurial journey as a woman in Afghanistan, Ms. Kamila Sidiqi shared that before she joined the government, she started a small consultancy business with one laptop and then she trained more than 6000 men and women in 28 provinces of Afghanistan, where she provided economic empowerment for women and conducted several related projects. In 2012, she started an export and import company and exported dry fruit from Kabul to Kazakhstan, Russia, India and other countries. In 2014, she started the first online taxi company which is similar to Uber. Then when her business became very famous and there were success stories circulating in different places about her business, President Ghani offered her to join the government. After that, she remained the Deputy Chief of Staff and Admin, and Finance in the presidential palace and worked there for three years with the President.
She then joined the Ministry of Commerce as the Deputy Minister. For a short time, she also remained the Acting Minister. She then left the government and went back to the private sector and resumed her work at the consultancy company, export and import business, and the taxi company. One of these days, she said, she would soon start investing for girls in the exploration of petroleum in Afghanistan because while majority of Afghan women have businesses, they are usually small businesses, but now she wants to join big businesses for girls, she said.
Ambassador Tasnim stated that she hadn’t heard of any women in Pakistan who was in the oil and gas business. While, there is one in the ship breaking though, named Ms. Salma Ahmed.
Ms. Kamila stated that she also wants to start a solar company as there is a lot of demand in Afghanistan. During the time of the Taliban, Ms. Kamila started a small tailoring business and there was a book about her, named The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, which was hailed as the best sellers in New York as well, she said.
On the question by the Ambassador if the environment for women has improved in Afghanistan, since Ms. Kamila came back to business after a gap, Ms. Kamila stated that there has certainly been a lot of difference over the years in the private sector as well as the government. She also stated that while she was offered to be the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, she refused because she wanted to work in the private sector and support women in Afghanistan. She has a lot of ideas for women to implement – for their empowerment and leadership in Afghanistan, she said. The biggest challenge that she faced in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry was that people would send their CVs to apply for jobs at the Ministry and there weren’t enough jobs. Especially when the MPs would come up with about 20 jobless people every day with the pressure to create jobs for them, she decided that the private sector would be the best place to invest in for creating more job opportunities.
Ms. Kamila said she welcomes women entrepreneurs from Pakistan to come to Afghanistan. She also recalled that she travelled to Pakistan as the Deputy Minister despite objection to her decision to go by many in the Afghan Government, however, it turned into a very successful trip where she received a great deal of hospitality while meeting with high-level officials in Pakistan’s government. She recalled that during the visit, the Pakistani side solved various issues, ranging from those on the border, some with the Kandahari people and also provided more staff for the smooth operations of the Torkham border crossing point as well as signed an MoU too. When she returned with the achievements of the trip, the President and the people were very happy and she had to remind them that they had been stopping her from going before. She then concluded that it is always good to talk, see and meet people.
She said that her desire and expectation is that the two countries should work together and encourage people to come to Afghanistan and invest as the two countries are so close. Unfortunately, it is always the men that create political problems and issues, she noted. We, as women, mothers, and as humans, feel the responsibility to help other people and there is always this relationship between women to come together and support each other. She warmly thanked the delegation for taking the risk and coming to Afghanistan despite all the negative propaganda spread by different groups.
Pakistan delegate, Sameena Durrani then asked if women in Afghanistan are bank-shy and do not go for bank loans and if banks are also more supportive of men when it comes to giving loans and plans for business ideas. Ms. Kamila Sidiqi responded that access to finance is always a problem in different countries for both women and men. One of the issues, as Muslims, is the interest rate (considered to be un-Islamic) which poses as a hurdle when stepping into such ventures as taking loans from banks. However, females in particular, usually take small loans for their businesses which are also of small scale. There is actually a report that women have a good record of paying back the banks in time. However, it is not enough that women are always aiming for small businesses and not for big businesses. She recalled that during her tenure as the Deputy Minister, she conducted a survey in 13 provinces of Afghanistan, where she deduced that if they could identify 5 entrepreneurs in one province, they would create 5000 jobs in the province. In that survey, the Ministry identified 1300 businesswomen in different provinces who were running good businesses and supporting their families. The Ministry then organized the first woman business summit in Kabul, where they were all invited and given awards for their efforts. There is also a database for all these businesswomen in case a donor agency, a bank or anyone needs their contact details to support their business, they can get in touch through this database, she said.
The situation has greatly changed in recent years, with the creation of the Women Chambers of Commerce in Afghanistan, the government giving a lot of support to women, and many donor agencies focusing on women economic empowerment. Hence, it appears that it is the right time and place for some investment and creating business-partnerships, said Ms. Kamila.
The delegation then discussed many challenges faced by businesswomen in Pakistan and inquired if they were similar in Afghanistan. The delegation discussed if small grants are given to women for their skill development in Afghanistan, if there are any vocational training centers for women in Afghanistan, regarding renewable energy projects in both countries and the prospects of involving businesswomen in organizing fashion shows for women in both countries for their economic empowerment and so on.
Both Ms. Kamila and the Pakistan delegation affirmed that women in both countries need support and efforts should be made to give more opportunities to women who have a lot of potential.