Addressing the Women’s Business Conference in Kabul on Wednesday, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah stressed the need for more efforts to be made to further promote the capacity building process among women in the economic sector in the country.

The conference was organized by USAID Promote Women in the Economy and the Office of the Chief Executive and saw 140 female business owners from 16 provinces attend.

The conference - Forward Together National Business Women's Summit – saw women discuss challenges and put forward solutions for women in business in Afghanistan.

Speaking on Wednesday, the second day of the conference, Abdullah said: “We will assess your recommendations, these proposals will be assessed in the council of ministers.”

Among the challenges the businesswomen raised were those around their inability to access financial resources, the lack of support to women entrepreneurs and business leaders, insecurity and the lack of proper marketing channels for women to use in order to sell their products.

“We also recommend handcrafts and hostel management to be included in the curricula of the universities to help the girls be trained in this sphere so that the marketing issue is resolved,” said Fariba Akbaryar, an official from the Promote Program. 

“We have learned many things through a range of effective projects, we also managed to promote our business,” said Farzana Mirzayee, a woman entrepreneur from western Herat province, who attended the summit.

Promote is a five-year program targeting the education, promotion, and training of Afghan women.

Promote strengthens women’s participation in civil society, boosts female participation in the economy, increases the number of women in decision making positions within the Afghan government, and helps women gain business and management skills.