Mozhgan Wafiq Alokozai Ep. 118 - Are you courageous? Imagine yourself walking down a street in Afghanistan. You have to be accompanied by a male relative. As you walk along, the potential of a bomb exploding is very real. How do you economically and socially empower oppressed women? Education. By arming women with knowledge, they are able to develop themselves and their households. Mozhgan Wafiq Alokozai has a passion that continues driving through adversity again and again. She's lived under the Taliban regime in Pakistan, she has provided training programs and opportunities for women in Afghanistan. She has tried and failed and gotten up again to try another avenue. Her latest venture is Eagle Online Academy, which is a nonprofit organization offering quality, flexible online educational programs globally. She feels that a good quality education can be life-changing for girls and women giving them marketable skills.
Top Takeaways:
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- Having the courage to empower women educationally and economically to better themselves in hard situations
- The importance of online education for Afghanistan women as a way to help them intentionally commit and be able to split between their household work and education.
- The dangers that the Taliban pose for Afghan women and the progress of Afghanistan development
Listen in to learn the importance of educating oppressed women and giving them tools for social and economic development.
"Afghan women are very talented and they have the right to freedom of choice. They also have the right to live and work in a peaceful environment, and to get a good education." -Mozhgan Wafiq Alokozai
Best Podcast for Entrepreneurial Courage
She began her employment career in 2002 and she started her first business in 2004, a cafe shop in Kabul Women's garden, to expand her idea of doing business in 2007 she established the first women business shopping center with 33/shops in Kabul city, World of Women Business market.
In 2008 in a partnership with her husband, Mozhgan established Impressive Consulting. Since 2016 Mozhgan has established her digital marketing company My Impressive LLC, based in Virginia, with several successful projects under her, she has been recognized as the best leader in 2018 by the National Professional Women's Associations of USA. She has served Afghan Women Chamber of Commerce and Industries as an advisory board member since 2017 and She is serving Institute Economic Empowerment of Women as International Advisory board member since 2019
To share her knowledge and experience she got involved with reputable Afghan women's economic empowerment programs such as Peace Through Business® as a trainee in 2008 and to pay forward as Peace Through Business® network president, instructor and mentor in last 12 years. She has mentored more than 50 women-owned businesses and trained 3,000 women in nine provinces of Afghanistan during the past 11 years. She is a member of the U.S.-Afghan Women's Council (USAWC).
Mozhgan Wafiq Alokozai was awarded Best Female Leader by the Ministry of Women Affairs in 2009. In 2011 she received best Female Entrepreneur award through Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA) and Peace Through Business® program, in 2012 she was recognized as a best instructor of the year through American university of Afghanistan Goldman Sachs 10000 Women program. In 2013 she received the best Afghan female leader from AISA, Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) and Export Promotion Agency of Afghanistan (EPAA), in 2015 she has received best entrepreneurship Bibi Khadija first Women's Award and she has received the National Association of Professional women 2018 in Virginia.
You will also learn about the dangers that withdrawing the US troops from Afghanistan could pose not only to women but also the whole nation alike.
Key Takeaways:
Mozhgan narrates how her parents freed the Taliban regime in Afghanistan to give her education, plus how she started empowering women and girls [3:01]
She talks about the businesses she started for women and the challenges they faced in Afghanistan's male-dominated community [6:29]
How the Afghanistan workforce development program helped skill and support women in Afghanistan [13:46]
Understanding how women are able to work from home due to COVID [16:06]
The social, cultural, and economical challenges that women in Afghanistan face and how they hinder them from independence [18:09]
How Afghanistan women have changed over the last 15 years by developing confidence and eagerness to learn [21:29]
The influence of mainstream media and social media for Afghanistan women to learn, change and be empowered [27:36]
Why she named her business 'Eagle' plus the courses they're offering on the online education platform [28:41]
Teaching women internationally through the English language [33:24]
Mozhgan explains the fears that Afghanis have if the US government decides to withdraw its troops come 2021 [36:38]
She talks about the importance of rights and freedom for the women and citizens of Afghanistan [43:15]
Resources:
International Association of Women
Podcasts Like This:
Peace Through Business Season 1