Pashtana Durrani (left) and Roya Mahboob (right) spoke about their paths to leadership. Photo by Tara Sloane.
On March 30, حوإ¼½م½م welcomed Pashtana Durrani, founder of , and Roya Mahboob, founder and CEO of . During the Women of Color Leadership Series event, hosted by the School of Business and Katie Leadership Impact, the two activists and entrepreneurs spoke at The O'Shaughnessy about their leadership journeys and their efforts to educate women and girls in Afghanistan.
Roya Mahboob became interested in technology when she first saw a computer in an internet cafe in her hometown of Herat, Afghanistan. Her passion led her to pursue a degree in computer science and then found Digital Citizen Fund in 2013, her nonprofit whose mission is to help girls and women achieve financial independence through education and technology.
“All this happened to me because I had access to education,†said Mahboob. “Education built a foundation for me that helped me to believe in my skills and my abilities.â€
The Digital Citizen Fund has built technology centers in schools to provide women and girls with internet access and teach digital literacy, supported a financial literacy program to help women and girls work toward financial independence, and started an Afghan girls robotics team, which has traveled internationally to compete. Mahboob was interested in providing alternate paths for girls outside o