Global Women's Trade Caravan

10/14/2026

Remember, there are Afghan women running their businesses in the most difficult circumstances and all you can do is to share your time and expertise with them so they improve their businesses to produce better, market better and earn better and maintain jobs better. Link for Mentor’s Application can be found in the bio!

10/07/2026

Three October events!

This October, Global Women’s Trade Caravan is hosting three events to deepen engagement with Afghan women entrepreneurs and connect their businesses with knowledge, networks, and global markets.

Amid severe restrictions on women’s rights and opportunities, Afghan women continue to build businesses, create products, and support livelihoods. Through our “Behind the Headlines: Afghan Women Building Businesses” campaign and related activities, we invite you to engage with their work and explore practical ways to support their growth.

Join our October conversations:

🔹 October 15th 👉 Report launch and discussion — The Impact of Financial and Equipment Support on Women Entrepreneurs in Afghanistan: https://forms.gle/poRmnN7YdjYfPpHc6

🔹 October 20th 👉 European and other countries Diaspora Engagement — Connecting Afghan Women Entrepreneurs to Global Markets via Diaspora:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfSJvhOh8Nxlf7b0weyfZyCs4IOS9qyqubx6v8V5tOXZ_Ho-A/viewform

🔹 October 21st 👉 U.S. and Canada Diaspora Engagement — Connecting Afghan Women Entrepreneurs to Global Markets via Diaspora:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSehAyxAOX45l0w44EO5BrIoq4ZdAp2G-nS1EzUYLH-oZyfZYQ/viewform

Whether you are a buyer, entrepreneur, mentor, diaspora professional, or potential partner, your participation can help create lasting business connections.

Buy. Partner. Mentor. Introduce an entrepreneur to her next customer.
Please register and share these invitations with your networks.

10/03/2026

🌍 Call for Nominations: Bibi Khadija Award for Afghan Women Entrepreneurs Around the World!

For the first time, the Bibi Khadija Award is opening a special opportunity to recognize Afghan women entrepreneurs living in the United States and other countries around the world. We are looking for Afghan women who have turned new beginnings into economic opportunities—women who are building businesses, creating jobs, supporting others, and contributing to their new communities while maintaining connections with Afghanistan where possible. Who can be nominated? • Afghan women entrepreneurs living outside Afghanistan • Own or co-own an active business • Have been in business for at least 2 years • Established or significantly developed their business within the past 5 years • Have created jobs or income opportunities for others—whether in Afghanistan, their new communities, or elsewhere.

Self-nominations are welcome. The deadline is October 15th, 2026

Nominate yourself or an inspiring Afghan woman entrepreneur through the form below: 👉 https://forms.gle/vYvLcocXLA6U6XgF8

Let us recognize and celebrate Afghan women who are creating opportunities, strengthening communities, and building a new generation of Afghan entrepreneurship around the world.

10/02/2026

Afghan women are entrepreneurs, producers, and business owners building livelihoods despite extraordinary restrictions.
Watch Manizha Wafeq introduce our end-of-year campaign, “Behind the Headlines: Afghan Women Building Businesses,” and discover ways to support women-owned businesses in Afghanistan.
Global Women's Trade Caravan
Ways you can support:
Shop: MadebyAfghanWomen.com
Connect: afwomenglobhub.com
Mentor:https://docs.google.com/.../1FAIpQLSc8HRXibbSwM2.../viewform See less

08/04/2026

ثبت‌نام برای دوازدهمین دور تندیس بی‌بی خدیجه رسماً آغاز شد.

از زنان متشبث و تجارت‌پیشه‌ای که در دشوارترین شرایط و با وجود محدودیت‌ها و فشارهای گوناگون، توانسته‌اند کسب‌وکارهای خود را حفظ و توسعه دهند، صمیمانه دعوت می‌کنیم تا در این برنامه اشتراک کنند. این زنان ثابت کرده‌اند که با وجود همه چالش‌ها، همچنان می‌سازند، رهبری می‌کنند، فرصت‌های شغلی ایجاد می‌کنند و امید می‌آفرینند. آنان الگوهای الهام‌بخشی برای نسل امروز و آینده هستند و شایسته قدردانی و تجلیل‌اند.

امسال، هم‌زمان با دوازدهمین سال برگزاری تندیس بی‌بی خدیجه، از زنان متشبث و تجارت‌پیشه هر ۳۴ ولایت افغانستان دعوت می‌کنیم تا در این برنامه شرکت کنند. برای نخستین بار، درخواست‌ها به‌صورت ولایتی ارزیابی خواهد شد و از هر ولایت یک زن متشبث برجسته به‌عنوان برنده تندیس بی‌بی خدیجه انتخاب و مورد تقدیر قرار خواهد گرفت. این رویکرد، فرصتی برابر برای معرفی و تجلیل از زنان کارآفرین سراسر افغانستان فراهم می‌سازد.

همچنین با افتخار اعلام می‌کنیم که این برنامه برای دومین سال متوالی با همکاری برنامه توسعه ملل متحد (UNDP) افغانستان و با حمایت پروژه دسترسی به منابع مالی (Access to Finance) برگزار می‌شود.

اگر شما صاحب یک کسب‌وکار هستید، یا زنی را می‌شناسید که با تلاش، نوآوری و پشتکار توانسته است کسب‌وکار خود را توسعه دهد و برای دیگران فرصت‌های شغلی ایجاد کند، از شما دعوت می‌کنیم تا درخواست یا نامزدی خود را از طریق فورم زیر ثبت نمایید:

https://forms.gle/khtJmM9VztmeggDBA

توجه: برندگان یازده دور گذشته تندیس بی‌بی خدیجه واجد شرایط اشتراک در این دوره نبوده و نمی‌توانند دوباره در روند انتخاب شرکت کنند.

08/03/2026

We've been introducing the inspiring women entrepreneurs behind MadeByAfghanWomen.com—sharing their journeys, businesses, and resilience through interviews conducted by our founder, Manizha Wafeq.

This time, we're excited to do something a little different.

Instead of interviewing one of our entrepreneurs ourselves, we're sharing a beautifully produced interview by Radio Begum, a women-led media organization in Afghanistan, featuring Fatima Sherzad, a business owner and artisan in our marketplace. Her story is a powerful reminder of how Afghan women entrepreneurs create businesses with minimal resources and support.

🛍️ Support Fatima's business by shopping her collection:
https://madebyafghanwomen.com/store/fatima-shirzad-handicrafts/

📱 Follow Fatima on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/share/1938p1REWn/

Every purchase creates economic opportunities for Afghan women, helps preserve their craftsmanship, and connects them with customers around the world.

Please watch, share, and support.


https://youtu.be/oUMaN543ZPQ?si=KlyTxz4D7ZniwOrV

#کابل‌افغانستانفاطمه شیرزاد، بانوی متشبث در ولایت کابل، بیش از ده...

07/08/2026

Meet One of Afghanistan's Inspiring Saffron Entrepreneurs!

Despite unprecedented restrictions on women's mobility, education, and economic participation, Afghan women continue to demonstrate remarkable resistance and determination.

Today, we are proud to introduce one of the women entrepreneurs featured on MadeByAfghanWomen.com—Nasima Ebrahimi, a saffron producer whose premium Afghan saffron is reaching customers beyond Afghanistan's borders through exports.

Her journey is about more than selling one of Afghanistan's finest products. It is a story of perseverance, hope, and refusing to let extraordinary challenges define what is possible.

Behind every package of saffron is a woman working to support her family, preserve generations of agricultural knowledge, and keep her business alive in one of the world's most difficult environments for women entrepreneurs.

At Global Women's Trade Caravan, we believe Afghan women deserve access to markets, digital tools, business networks, and opportunities—not because their challenges have disappeared, but because their determination has never faded.

We are honored to showcase her products through MadeByAfghanWomen.com, connecting Afghan women entrepreneurs with customers around the world.

When you support women-owned businesses, you invest in resilience, dignity, and economic opportunity.

💜 Explore her products and discover the stories behind them. You can connect with us on [email protected]

05/11/2026

Over the past months, one message has stayed with us throughout this nationwide assessment: Afghan women entrepreneurs are not giving up. They are adapting.

Across all 34 provinces, we listened to women who lost shops but continued from their homes, women who shifted from larger businesses into small-scale production, and women who now rely on WhatsApp and informal networks just to keep their businesses alive.

What stood out most was the contradiction in the data:
- Restrictions are severe.
- The business environment has deteriorated.
- Access to markets and finance has declined.
Yet more than 91% of women still want to expand their businesses.
This tells us something important: the issue is not women’s ambition or capability. The issue is the ecosystem around them.

We hope the international community and implementing partners in Afghanistan read and listen to us. This report can help them in more thoughtful programming, stronger partnerships, and more effective support for Afghan women as economic actors.
We are grateful to our dedicated ground team and to the Center for International Private Enterprise for their partnership and support in making this work possible.

📩 We welcome engagement from donors, diaspora actors, researchers, private sector partners, and organizations interested in collaboration.

04/09/2026

Report and Roadmap for Women Entrepreneurs in Afghanistan Launched!

After months of work across all 34 provinces of Afghanistan and the launch event, we are honored to share our latest assessment report and roadmap on women entrepreneurs.

- 3,236 interviews.
- 33 provincial focus group discussions.
One clear message: Afghan women are still building, still adapting, still striving to grow. Yet the ecosystem around them is shrinking.

This report brings their voices forward—and offers a roadmap to support them more effectively through provincial strategies, market access, finance, and coordinated action. 👉 https://www.globalwomentrade.org/post/afghan-women-as-economic-actors-evidence-challenges-and-a-roadmap-for-enterprise-resilience-and-g

🎥 In this video, Manizha Wafeq shares what we found and why it matters now more than ever.

📩 We invite partners, donors, and diaspora actors to engage with us in advancing this roadmap.

hashtag
hashtag
hashtag
hashtag

03/08/2026

روز جهانی همبستگی زنان به زنان متشبث با همت و با استقامت افغانستان مبارک باشد. همت، استقامت و امیدواری تان به آینده بهتر برای همه ما الهام بخش است. همت والای شما، میتواند شما را به اینده که از تمام حقوق اساسی و انسانی تان برخوردار باشید، برساند، به آینده‌ی که صدا و تشبثیات شما بتواند بدون کدام محدودیت شکوفا شود. Happy International Women’s Solidarity Day to the courageous, determined, and resilient women entrepreneurs of Afghanistan. Your perseverance, strength, and unwavering hope for a better future continue to inspire us all. May your courage lead you toward a future where Afghan women fully enjoy their fundamental and human rights, and where your voices, talents, and enterprises thrive without barriers.