Kamila Sidiqi is an

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

entrepreneur, government official, and the subject of the ''New York Times'' bestselling book, ''

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana ''The Dressmaker of Khair Khana'' is a book by author Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, published in March 2011 by HarperCollins. It documents the story of Kamila Sidiqi, a young female entrepreneur working during the years of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, a ...

''.

Background

Sidiqi received her teaching certificate the same day the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

arrived in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

, rendering her unable to work. Without any means of supporting her family, the then 19-year-old turned to

dressmaking A dressmaker, also known as a seamstress, is a person who makes custom clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and evening gowns. Dressmakers were historically known as mantua-makers, and are also known as a modiste or fabrician. Notab ...

. With the help of her sisters, she opened a tailoring school in their home to teach women to sew and provide employment after their training was completed. The venture went on to employ over 100 of Sidiqi's neighbours without attracting the Taliban's attention.

Career

In 2004, following the fall of the Taliban, Sidiqi set up Kaweyan Business Development Services to bring

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...

leadership Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets view ...

, and

entrepreneurial Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

skills to women and men in remote rural communities and cities. In her role as

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

, Sidiqi travelled across a country where few women could venture without a male relative to escort them, and where aid workers often travel with armed guards or local police. Kaweyan BDS was

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

's first

business development Business development entails tasks and processes to develop and implement growth opportunities within and between organizations. It is a subset of the fields of business, commerce and organizational theory. Business development is the creation of ...

training company. It trained 5,000 people (70 percent of them women) in business and leadership. Kaweyan Business Development Services later grew to include a dried fruit export business and a taxi cab service. From 2014 to 2015, Sidiqi was on the board of NGO Hand in Hand Afghanistan (a part of the

Hand in Hand International Hand in Hand International is a registered non-profit organisation based in London, UK. It is part of the Hand in Hand network, whose shared vision is to fight poverty through job and business creation. Hand in Hand was founded by Percy Barnevik ...

network), an

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

that helps the rural poor in Afghanistan to turn their skills and potential into jobs. She provided strategic direction to the organization, which has trained 22,000 micro-entrepreneurs (mostly women) who have gone on to create over 8,000 businesses. Sidiqi is a founding member of Leading Entrepreneurs of Afghanistan Development (LEAD). Founded in 2013, the organization was renamed to Afghan Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AWCCI) in 2017. She is also a member of a number of other influential international women’s associations, including the

Steering Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

for the South Asia Women's Entrepreneurship Symposium (SAWES). From October 2014 to May 2017, she was the Presidential Deputy Chief of Staff for Afghanistan President

Ashraf Ghani Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai (born 19 May 1949) is an Afghan politician, academic, and economist who served as the president of Afghanistan from September 2014 until August 2021, when his government was overthrown by the Taliban. Born in L ...

. Since June 2017, she has served as the Deputy Minister for Trade Affairs.

References

External links

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Kaweyan Business Development Services
(archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sidiqi, Kamila Living people Afghan government officials Afghan businesspeople Year of birth missing (living people)