Not long after Roya Mahboob was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2013, the Taliban delivered a threat.
Mahboob, 29, had used the profit from Afghan Citadel Software, her software development startup, to create ten centres for girls to study computing in Kabul and Herat. The Taliban told her that if she didn't stop, they would kill her. Forced to flee Afghanistan, Mahboob arrived alone in New York in January 2014. She then embarked on two projects: a vocational training site called EdyEdy and, in early 2016, an as-yet-unnamed export company, bringing Afghan tea and coffee to the US and Middle East.
Both businesses fund Mahboob's training centres, which she has continued, despite the danger. "We give access to technology," she says. "We have 8,000 students and we're going to train 5,000 more in the next two years." Digital Citizen Fund's 12 female teachers introduce 12- to 18-year-old Afghans to the basics of digital and financial literacy, followed by classes in coding or social media. Each year, 2,400 girls take the courses, but Mahboob wants to expand – first to rural areas, then to other countries.
She says she is sharing the experience that showed her the world could be bigger than she was told. "In any conservative society women are not equal. Technology can change this – it changed my world."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
