You are here: Home / World / Creating Economic Prosperity Under Risky Conditions

Creating Economic Prosperity Under Risky Conditions

June 30, 2010 by

[HTML1] Farzana Ebrahimi is a Gen Y businesswoman from Afghanistan, who is fighting the country’s cultural norm and blazing her own path to economic prosperity. She was in the United States recently as a participant in a conference sponsored by The Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women’s Peace Through Business program. The Oklahoma City-based organization provides long-term business training to women entrepreneurs in war-torn countries, specifically Afghanistan and Rwanda.

Farzana joins Keeping Up with Gen Y to talk about the difficulty she faces in trying to forge an entrepreneurial path in a society that doesn’t recognize women as business leaders. She also shares her plans to bring literacy and computer skills to all women and girls in Kandahar, despite governmental barriers.
More about Farzana
Farzana Ebrahimi is a Gen Y businesswoman from Afghanistan, who is fighting the country’s cultural norm and blazing her own path to economic prosperity.
Farzana spent the majority of her adolescence in neighboring countries in an endeavor to avoid the Taliban’s reign. It was during this time that she began a path toward self-empowerment, relying on her skills and thinking for herself.
Upon returning to Afghanistan, Farzana looked for different ways to help her war torn country. Eventually, she founded the Kandahar Health and Development Organization in Afghanistan. Through the organization, Farzana courageously runs her risky business of providing literacy and business training to women.
The organization’s mission is to strengthen the Afghan society by promoting economic and human rights through health and education, with a focus on women and girls in Kandahar. They accomplish these goals by providing educational, health, vocational and business training for women and girls.
Despite facing harsh criticism from men in Kandahar and the surrounding areas, Farzana’s business continues to flourish. She contributes this mostly to her and her team’s bravery and willingness to be strong in the face of adversity.
She graduated from The Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women’s Peace Through Business program in 2009, and has been a rising star ever since. This year, the program held a contest to bring back as program ambassadors former students who had excelled in paying forward what they’ve learned through the organization. Farzana won for Afghanistan.
Filed Under: World Tagged With:
About Tamara Bell

Tamara Bell is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Y Gen Out Loud, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that provides a platform for Generation Yto discuss national politics and public policy issues.

Tamara began her journalism career as a staff reporter for the Dallas Times Herald. A few years later, she moved to York, Pa., as a political reporter for the York Dispatch, covering local, state, and national government as well as writing investigative stories for the mid-sized daily newspaper.

A Texas girl at heart, Tamara returned to Dallas a year later to work as press relations director for the re-election campaign of U.S. Rep. John Bryant. The next year, she moved to Austin and the Texas Legislature, where she stayed for 15 years. While at the Legislature, Tamara worked for Democratic House members as Chief-of-Staff and Press Secretary, and as a Senior Policy Analyst for the Senate State Affairs Committee chaired by a Republicansenator.

In 1996, Tamara became co-owner of a political newsletter covering state issues and elections. As Editor-in-Chief, Tamara helped shape the weekly publication into a must-read for state officials, legislative aides, and lobbyists. More recently, Tamara wrote a regular column analyzing coverage by the Texas Capitol Press Corps for an online political publication. She also works as a lecturer in the Advertising Department at The University of Texasat Austin.

Tamara has also been a judge for the 2010 Bright Ideas Award given by the Texas Daily Newspaper Association, served as a panelist at the Society of Professional Journalists 2010 Region 8 Conference where the theme was How to Save Journalism, and has been a guest lecture for the Advertising Department’s Internship course, speaking about the jobs outlook for graduating seniors.

Tamara earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Journalism from The University of Texas at Austin, and her B.A. in Journalism from Texas A&M University. She resides in Austin with her son, Jackson.

Tamara Bell is also the Host of Keeping Up with Gen Y on WomensRadio. Keeping Up with Gen Y offers discussions, interviews, and commentary about important issues of the day from the perspective of Generation Y (18-to 30-years-old). Aimed at all generations interested in learning about and inspiring young people, this show features professionals, experts, researchers, and members of Gen Y who share insights and experiences about the topics on the minds of today’s young adults.