Entrepreneur of the Month: Adela Sanglakhi

Adela Sanglakhi is a 25-year old entrepreneur from Kabul who owns a startup called Afghan Girls.

Her company employs 85 women in Kabul, Paktia, Maidan Wardak, Logar, Daikuni, Ghazni, Balkh, Baghlan, Takhar and Bamyan. It has 12 female employees in the US, Sweden, London, Italy, Spain, Moscow, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkey. Her employees work in different areas from producing goods to sales, marketing and communications.

Sanglakhi’s startup exports Afghan women’s handicrafts to different countries and also provides business seminars and training in areas of needlework, cutting, bead embroidery and leather embroidery.

Sanglakhi started her business with an initial investment of only 500 Afghanis a few years ago.

“I went to Bamyan, where I bought two and a half kilograms of qurut [dried yogurt] and brought it to Kabul. I introduced it in Kabul supermarkets, whose owners evinced an interest in buying it,” Sanglakhi told Pajhwok Afghan News in an interview.

Later, she brought 49 kilograms of qurut and sold it at a very good price. And, from then on she never looked back. Her business continued to grow and she added new products.

Sanglakhi established Afghan Girls to help create more job opportunities for Afghan women and to fulfill her dream of being an employer.

Afghan Girls’ handicrafts include dresses, headscarves, hand bags, shoes and decoration items.

Sanglakhi is a strong supporter of self-sufficiency and economic empowerment of women. She believes women can free themselves from chains of patriarchy through achieving self-sufficiency.

“My dream will come true when peace and stability return to my country. My ambition is to travel to all provinces, to the farthest parts of my country, to exploit the extraordinary talent of Afghan women,” Pajhwok Afghan News quotes Sanglakhi.