Afghanistan Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Since 2002, many none profit organizations started working for Afghan women’s empowerment and rights achievement. Almost all focused their activities and advocacy work on women’s political, social and cultural participation and rights. None has taken on women’s economic participation or business women’s concerns so far. The need for an entity to organize business women’s voice and advocate for their interests is emphasized on in the report; Women’s Economic Empowerment, Information mapping, 2002-2012, Afghan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU): At the national level, an umbrella Afghan women’s organization is needed.

A group of businesswomen realized this need and lack of existence of a platform so they collaborated and established Leading Entrepreneurs for Afghanistan’s Development (LEAD). LEAD was established in 2013 and officially launched on January 22, 2014.