An Afghan woman poses for photos at a designing shop managed by Madiha Amiri in Mazar-i-Sharif, capital of Balkh province, Afghanistan, March 13, 2021. (Photo by Kawa Basharat/Xinhua)
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Like other regions of the insurgency-battered Afghanistan, the northern Mazar-i-Sharif city has been facing security threats that undermine businesses, but Madiha Amiri is ambitious and brave enough to open a designing shop here.
"Running a business is difficult but you have to persist, be patient and struggle to win," said Amiri.
Walking around her shop to check the work of her employees, Amiri, 26, told Xinhua that her aim is to design and produce new style outfits to cater to more clients and earn more money.
Attired in traditional dress to respect local culture, the ambitious entrepreneur muttered that as a woman, running a business in a conservative society like Afghanistan is difficult, if not impossible.
In the insurgency-plagued and conservative country, where many people, especially in rural areas, regard women working outside home as a taboo, it is not free of risk for her to run a business.
Among recent attacks on women in Afghanistan, unidentified armed men gunned down three female health workers in the eastern Jalalabad city on Tuesday.
Amiri, a graduate of Balkh University majoring in engineering, said softly that she preferred to run a business instead of working as an engineer with government or private companies.
Running a business can create job opportunities, she said.
"I established my business two years ago and currently 50 women are working for me," Amiri said with pride.
In addition to supplying a variety of Afghan traditional clothes, her team also introduces new designs and new style outfits to the market by internet, she said.
Needlework and embroidery have also been promoted by Amiri's designing shop to find more customers, she said.
The northern Balkh province with Mazar-i-Sharif as its capital has been the scene of increasing militancy over the past more than a decade as militant groups particularly the Taliban outfit are active in parts of the province.
Downplaying all the security threats, the valiant Amiri suggested that waiting for a peaceful environment to work would reduce your chance to become someone in society.
Amiri is satisfied with her income, saying the monthly income of her designing shop is "enough to pay salaries of all the 50 employees." Besides, she could save some money for the future every month.
She also hopes that she could employ more women and girls by further developing her business in future.
"Both tailoring and designing are fine arts and I have learned a lot from the designing shop and get reasonable income here to support myself and my family," said Basira Nazari, a staff of the shop. Enditem
