A 28-year-old female owner of a business with more than 500 employees, who exports products worldwide, and does all this in a patriarchal, war-torn environment where women still have no legal protection, is much more than a mere success. She is a phenomenon.


Rangina

Meet Rangina, who for security reasons we can only identify by her first name. She has done just that in the past year, since she completed her fellowship in Thunderbird's Project Artemis.

"The other women and I dedicated to this project know that working is the only real alternative to insecurity," said Rangina, who operates Kandahar Treasure, which makes embroidered shawls, pillows and wall hangings. "We have given up on the men in this region, who only know – and love – war and destruction. We women have taken it upon ourselves to stitch the future of peace for our children. Embroidery is the skill we have, and love and patience is what we can give to our families and our country. We will work to help rebuild this war-torn nation."

The groundbreaking program brought 15 Afghan women to Thunderbird for two weeks in January 2005. The fellows took entrepreneurial courses from Thunderbird professors, drafted business plans, visited local companies and were paired with an American businesswoman who promised to mentor them for at least two years.

"All of the women have gone back to Afghanistan and put their Thunderbird training to use in some way," said Kellie Krieser ‘04, director of Thunderbird for Good and coordinator of Project Artemis.

Kandahar Treasure is able to operate within the confines of Afghan society because its employees, who are mostly women, work from home. "If nothing else, I want to raise the status of women in Afghanistan, especially in Kandahar," Rangina said.

She supplies patterns and materials to ensure consistency and quality, then retrieves the finished work. The embroidery is used on various products from wedding dresses to cell phone holders to pillows. She sells her wares to small shops, primarily in the United States.

"My goal for the business is to become the number one source of quality hand-embroidered products in Afghanistan and the world," Rangina said. "The Artemis program taught me that running a business is no easy job. There will be many ups and downs, there will be years of profits and years of losses, but if we stick to our vision of what we want to become, then the goal will be met."

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