By Fidel Rahmati in Khaama Press Online, March 16, 2023
An all-female commercial centre with 300 shops was opened in Mazar-e-Sharif City in the Balkh Province of Afghanistan.
The centre has created business prospects for more than 120 Afghan females selling women’s products and manufactures, including cloths, cosmetics, handicrafts, confectionaries, and cellphone repairs.
Earlier, a restaurant was opened by Rahela Yosufzai in Mazar-e-Sharif to encourage women to become self-sufficient.
“Women can work; it is hard to be in the community and stay at home all the time; I often considered starting my own business and working there,” Yusufzai added.
However, women entrepreneurs in Balkh province complain about the lack of market within and outside the country for their products since the regime changed.
The female entrepreneurs claimed that over half of the women have left their businesses due to the lack of government policies encouraging women-made products and handicrafts in the country.
Moreover, the country’s low purchasing power and economic crisis dull the women’s made products and manufactures.
The local officials said that despite the “lack of sales market for women’s products,” the Chamber of Industry and Mines in Balkh province would support female entrepreneurs and business initiatives.’
However, reports showed that in January this year, several women’s shops in the province were directed by the Taliban’s vice and virtue department to close their businesses immediately, media reports said.
https://www.khaama.com/business-center-for-women-opened-in-afghanistans-balkh-pro/
