October 2016—Fouzia Hariri doubted that one exhibition of her company’s dried fruits would change her future. In fact, she was concerned that traveling all the way to India might not be worth her time.

She already faced numerous challenges back home in Kabul, where she not only had to run a business—Hariri is the president of the Kabul-based Hasti Trading Co.—but she had to convince reluctant buyers to work with a businesswoman. To compound her uncertainty about the event, whenever Hariri made overtures to buyers abroad, she was met with skepticism about the quality of any product coming from Afghanistan.

“I didn’t have any hope that I would be successful,” Hariri asserted.

All of these doubts makes her success that much more surprising. “People came to look at my products and tasted them,” she stated with some astonishment. “By the end of the day, everything was finished. We put out more, and people were very happy.”

Hariri was one of 40 Afghan traders participating in the inaugural “Made in Afghanistan” exhibition and conference on July 19-20, 2016, in New Delhi, India, organized with the support of USAID’s Afghanistan Trade and Revenue (ATAR) project. Each trader showcased a variety of products to more than 100 Indian wholesale buyers including dried fruit, nuts, saffron, carpets, marble and gemstones that have historically made Afghanistan a prized trading hub.

At the exhibition, Hariri signed deals worth more than $4 million with Indian buyers to export 1,700 tons of dried fruit and nuts from Afghanistan to India over a period of six months.

Hariri believes these initial deals will lead to a steady pipeline of exports to India. The increased revenue will enable her to fulfill her other mission in life: to give more women the opportunity to earn a reliable income. Hasti Trading now employs 33 people, 13 of whom are women. When Hariri thinks of the future, she thinks of her 10-year-old daughter, who pretends to be the secretary of her mother’s company when she is not busy with her homework.

“People need time,” said Hariri. “I am working, and I want to be a positive role model for women. For each new project I do, I want to find a job for women.”

The Afghanistan Trade and Revenue project, which runs from 2013 to 2017, works with Afghanistan’s public and private sectors to increase trade and improve the country’s economic growth.

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