Hundreds of women business owners in Afghanistan seek help from nonprofit with Dallas ties

Terry Neese is heartbroken.

The founder and CEO of the Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women has just seen 15 years of rapid progress in helping downtrodden women entrepreneurs in Afghanistan.

Terry Neese, founder and CEO of the Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women, smiled at the graduation ceremonies for participants in the entrepreneurial bootcamp Peace Through Business in 2018.(Steve Hamm / special article)

In 2006 she launched the Peace Through Business initiative. It combines classroom learning in the country with an annual entrepreneurship bootcamp in Dallas funded by large local companies. Northwood University is their curriculum partner.

Since its inception, Peace Through Business has trained 597 Afghan women who have created jobs for an estimated 8,000 workers.

They own all kinds of businesses including an obstetrics clinic, a documentary filmmaker, a construction company, a tree farm, an app maker, and a neighborhood store that offers a delivery service like a mini-amazon.

Or at least they did.

Kubra Jafari owns KJ Productions, which have made documentaries about progress in Afghanistan.(Peace through business)

“On July 15th we celebrated 15 years of work on the ground in Afghanistan and, ironically, Kabul fell to the Taliban on August 15th,” Neese said last week.

After the breathtaking collapse, her graduates and their families tried to get into Kabul airport. However, they returned home after being scared by Taliban gunfire in the air and sprayed with tear gas on the gates.

For the past three weeks, Neese and her tiny co-workers with the Oklahoma City nonprofit have been working around the clock, desperately trying to help these women escape Afghanistan and possible Taliban retaliation.

“I feel like I’m standing in the middle of a raging river trying to get to the other side,” she said.

As the political situation worsened, the nonprofit shared detailed personal information about each graduate with the State Department and various Oklahoma government agencies in hopes of getting the women off before the August 31 deadline.

But unfortunately fewer than 50 made it, most of whom found asylum in Belgium, France, Germany, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Less than a handful actually live in the United States, and another half a dozen visa holders are waiting to be processed in US immigration camps.

The nonprofit has been inundated with emails and messages from graduates asking for help.

Neese says she doesn’t know what to do next.

“It’s really a challenge,” she said. “There are no commercial flights and many borders are closed. We are waiting for information from our government contacts about steps we can take to support these women. “

But Neese remains cautiously hopeful.

“I could be completely wrong, but I think things will settle down a bit and some of the women will be able to get flights there if they have the money. And I think there will be some women who will wear burqas and go on with their businesses. But right now we just don’t know.

“It’s a terrible situation.”

Women from Afghanistan and Rwanda listened to a presentation when AT&T held it at AT&T headquarters in downtown Dallas in 2014 as part of the Peace Through Business program.(Louis DeLuca / Employee Photographer)

Count their blessings

Manizha Wafeq is one of the lucky ones.

The 36-year-old, who holds a US green card, was able to leave Kabul less than a week before the capital’s collapse.

Manizha Wafeq

She now lives in Northern Virginia, where she works tirelessly to get other women out.

“In the past three weeks, I’ve helped more than 100 women with P1, P2 refugee visas,” said Wafeq, who graduated from the inaugural class of Peace Through Business in 2007 and has been its moderator in the country ever since.

She applied for her green card four years ago to expedite round-trip travel without thinking she would use it for permanent U.S. residency.

Wafeq founded the Afghanistan Women’s Chamber of Commerce under the direction of former Afghan First Lady Rula Ghani. These ties with the Afghan government put Wafeq at risk.

As the targeted killings by the Taliban escalated, her parents and siblings insisted that she move to the United States and come home only once or twice a year.

That was the plan when she boarded a military plane with her husband and six-year-old daughter on July 29th. Little did she know that the great downfall was so near.

Cried like a baby

Just two days before his departure, Wafeq was chairing a major conference in Kabul, the International Women’s Peace Summit, at which 120 participants issued a communiqué pledging to support the peace and continue their business despite the political turmoil.

“We tried to keep our message positive and neutral for all parties,” she said.

The Taliban had already taken over 100 small provinces, but Wafeq believed that the larger provinces and their city centers would push back.

Sure, she thought, the Afghan government and its loyal American allies would not leave the country without an intense battle.

“But when Herat fell, all the misery began,” she said. “That was the big shock that none of us had expected. It only took a week from Herat to Kabul.

“24 hours before Kabul closed, I spoke to someone who had verified information. This person said, “Manizha, the republic is at an end,” she recalls. “I cried like a baby who wants to eat.”

Help with relocation

Neese hopes that enterprising Americans will accept these entrepreneurs and meet the rising costs of their relocation.

“We will continue to bring women from Afghanistan who have completed our program if they want,” she said. “The questions are: which country will they host? And do you have the money to take your whole family with you? “

Peace Through Business is also operating in genocide-ravaged Rwanda under the direction of Chantal Munanayire, a 2014 graduate.

During a recent Zoom staff meeting, Munanayire suggested obtaining a Rwanda visa for the Afghan women and said they were safe and welcome in their country.

“Think about it,” said Neese. “Rwanda is Christian, and these are Muslim women in Afghanistan.

“People have been telling me for years, ‘Terry, you can’t bring these two religions together.’ I have argued, “These are women who build businesses, build the economy, and hire people. You will be great together. ‘ And you are.”

A group of women from Afghanistan and Rwanda gathered for a group photo after their graduation ceremony.(Steve Hamm / special article)

Stay committed

The last entrepreneurship bootcamp took place in Dallas in 2019. It took place practically last year due to COVID-19. If things had gone differently, the course should come to Dallas in October 2021.

“Small businesses are the key to success in any country,” said Neese, who ran for Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma in 1990. “We helped build an economy – not just in Kabul, but for the whole country.”

Your organization is determined to continue its educational programs in Afghanistan, although they will likely be virtual. But that too is problematic as it is uncertain whether people will have access to the Internet.

“A lot of these women have lost or will lose their business,” Neese said. “So we’re trying to figure out what role we can play to help them start a business or possibly expand a market for them.

“One possibility is to set up an online sales platform so that if they can no longer sell in Afghanistan, we can maybe expand a market for them globally.”

But Neese doesn’t want to be ahead of the game.

“I’m one of those hopeful people,” she said. “I really believe we can continue to make tangible changes and help these women keep working in their companies. It can take a while for this to happen. It could never happen.

“Right now I’m keeping my fingers crossed.”

In 2018, the award winners and their guests attended graduation ceremonies for participants in the “Peace Through Business” bootcamp in Irving. (Steve Hamm / special article)

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