Afghan Women Business Association (AWBA) and Afghan Women’s Business Federation (AWBF)
Address: AWBA office, Wazir Akbarkhan St # 11, House No. 570 Tel: +93 79 326 390, +93 79 275 824, +93 79 327 132 Email: afghanwomentrade@hotmail.com, afghanwomentrade@yahoo.com Contact: Mina Sherzoy minasherzoy@hotmail.com, Mahbooba Waizi awbc_awbc@yahoo.com waizi_56@hotmail.com

AWBF Board Members:
1 Mrs Guljan Zimarai Zamarai (see picture) Chair Woman Afghan Women Agriculture Association, Gul Jan Zemarai, the Executive Board Chair of the Women's Trade Federation. Address: Dosaraka maidan Hawahee, Kabul. Tel: +93 70 187299 Contact: Guljan Zimarai (20150105)
2 Mariam Mobin Sadiqi Secretary Afghan Pride Association
3 Amina Bawar Treasurer Afghan Women Engineering and Design Foundation, Address: Makroyan 3, Kabul. Tel: +93 79 9470024 Contact: Habiba Amin
4 Habiba Mirzad Author Association of Business Skills Training
5 Ayesha Aziz Member Afghan Mother Association
6 Aziza Momand Member Women Handicraft Association of Leather Products, Address: District 10, Street 5 Taymani, Kabul. Tel: +93 79 9326132 Contact: Gulsoom Satarzai
7 Shabnum Hadi Member Afghan Women Business Association
8 Zarin Jan Member Parwan Agricultural and Handicraft Association
9 Habiba Rafat Member Afghan Women Art and Handicrafts Association
10 Safia Said Zada Member Bakhtar Association
11 Shaima Shafaq Sadat Member Madina Association
12 Faozia Hashimi Member Afghan Women Carpet Association, Address: District 6, Kar Raiz Jamhoree, Kabul. Tel: +93 79 026530 Contact: Faozia Hashimi
13 Habiba Azimi Member Parwan women's Social Services Development Association

Background:
Since the fall of the Taliban regime in December 2001, significant work has been done to economically empower Afghan women. This effort began as part of the Ministry of Commerce support for women in business and the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) became involved in with it in late 2004. With CIPE’s assistance, the Ministry’s Women’s Enterprise Development (WED) initiative coordinated the training of over 200 women in basic and advanced entrepreneurship skills, which facilitated the expansion and creation of dozens of businesses. In addition, WED initiated women’s trade exhibitions, trade missions, and matchmaking programs that created both jobs and economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs. At the same time a number of women’s business association such as the Afghanistan Women’s Business Council (AWBC) coordinated training programs for their members, as well as sponsored exhibitions and other events in support of women’s entrepreneurship. Even with these efforts, synergy was needed to ensure the success of women’s enterprise development, which is why the Afghanistan Women’s Business Association (AWBA) and the Afghanistan Women’s Business Council (AWBC) collaborated with CIPE in 2005 to form the Afghanistan Women’s Business Federation (AWBF). The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) decided to provide three years worth of operational funding for the project. As the USAID implementing partner, CIPE is building the AWBF’s capacity as well as that of its partner organizations. The AWBF provides programs and services for its member associations as well as directly to thousands of Afghan women throughout the country. In addition, the AWBF uses a synergetic approach to women’s business development by collaborating with other USAID implementers and NGOs to reduce duplication of services and ensure that demand-driven programs are delivered in an effective and professional way. CIPE works with both the Federation and its members to increase the capacity of women’s associations, as well as to coordinate the delivery of programs and services directly to women entrepreneurs. By the end of the project, the AWBF will be a sustainable force in support of women’s business initiatives, providing technical assistance and coordinated programming throughout the country.