Board of Directors
Aman Zafari
Board Member
Amanullah Zafari born on 1973 in Kabul city, has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and participated in many management and leadership courses. He has more than 20 years of work experience with many well-known governmental and non-governmental organisations such as International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the World Bank, the Asia Foundation and USAID.
He has worked in several key positions and is a skilled manager and supervise. His areas of expertise include administration, procurement, logistics, office management, press and media, and general management.
From 2015 until 2019 Mr. Zafari worked with the Ministry of Commerce and Industries providing assistance to the Minister and Deputy Ministers in preparation of strategies, mandates, proposals and reports. He had a deep involvement in commercial, trade and industrial activities of Afghanistan and worked as a liaison between the Ministry of Commerce and Industries and International organisations, foreign entities and institutions.
Arif Niazi
Board Member
Mr. Arif Niazi has over 20 years of experience in supporting entrepreneurship development and implementing economic empowerment projects in Afghanistan. He is a certified Business Management Master Trainer from the International Finance Cooperation (a World Bank subsidiary) and has a Master’s Degree in Economics from the Kazakhstan National University. Mr. Niazi has worked for some of the leading national and international NGOs in Afghanistan including Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (CHA) and Hand-in-Hand Afghanistan. He has led the implementation of training, capacity building, entrepreneurship development, business advisory, job creation and economic empowerment projects funded by donors like USAID, IOM, UN Women and World Bank.
Soodaba Afghan
Board Member
Soodaba Afghan was born and raised in Afghanistan. In 2007 she received the esteemed ICCR Scholarship of India and completed her BA in the field of Political Economy. In 2010 she returned to Afghanistan and worked as Training Coordinator Specialist with Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission (IARCSC). In 2011, she received the DAAD Scholarship and completed her MA in field of Public Policy and Good Governance. From 2013-2015 worked as capacity building advisor with Independent Directorate for local Governance (IDLG) in Afghanistan. From year 2015-2017 worked as Administrative Reform Advisor with the Office of President’s Special Representative for Reform (OPSR). From 2019-2010 based on presidential degree she worked as Director of Export Promotion with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MOIC).
Besides working with the government of Afghanistan, she is also one a women entrepreneur, and started her own business in the name of Atrang Cloth Production Company in 2019 which is the first women SME that produced and distributed casual wear clothes for women.
After the market assessment, she found women SMEs need a permanent Market to sell their product therefore, in year 2020 she came up with idea to establish a permanent Market and Exhibition Center in heart of Kabul for 300 women SMEs from all over the country. She lobbied with the Office the president, MOIC, MoI and DAB to implement the idea and succeeded. This complex was above to be inaugurated in August 25th 2021 but unfortunately the country collapsed on 18th 2021 and everything got vanished.
Ruxandra Boros
Board Member
An independent consultant, Ruxandra’s work encompasses gender and finance research, needs assessment, project design and implementation in OECD and over 65 developing countries.
Ruxandra has excellent knowledge of key concepts, frameworks, approaches and evidence of what works to achieve gender empowerment and women’s equality measures. She has recognized expertise on: all aspects related to gender equity and finance; designing and implementing green-finance and sustainable business training, and gender-sensitive value chains.
Her clients include the European Union, UN agencies; international and regional development banks, as well as bilateral development agencies; private sector and not-for-profit organizations.
Prior to engaging in international development, Ruxandra was an investment banker in New York City and a business development executive in Paris. Subsequently she became Women’s World Banking Europe coordinator, supporting the development of some of the first microfinance institutions in Eastern Europe and CIS. On behalf of the ILO, she contributed to setting-up and implemented the first women’s entrepreneurship development program in Afghanistan.
Ruxandra brings to her work a deep commitment to support the health of the planet and the social and economic empowerment of youth and adults, especially women; an understanding of intercultural dimensions gained through field experience on four continents and her multilingual skills. She contributes voluntary work to NGOs in France and Romania. Ruxandra is a lecturer on sustainable business and green finance in various business schools and a keynote speaker at international conferences.
Fawzia Abbasi
Board Member
Ms Fawzia Abbasi is a development professional with over 15 years of experience in supporting charitable and humanitarian work in Afghanistan. Ms. Abbasi has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and has worked for projects funded by some of the leading donors of Afghanistan including USAID, UN Women, ADB and IOM. She is experienced in women’s economic empowerment and entrepreneurship and has supported charitable work for women carpet weavers and advocacy for women’ rights in the country. She was directly involved in conducting a nation-wide survey to identify challenges and opportunities for women entrepreneurs in Afghanistan and played a key role in organizing the first Afghan Women Entrepreneurs’ Summit.