Fereshteh Forough

CEO and Founder of Code to Inspire

New York City, New York | Herat, Afghanistan

@f_forough | LinkedIn Profile

Code to Inspire is a filed 501 c 3 non-profit based in New York City. Our mission is to educate, inspire and empower women in Afghanistan by education and technology. We are going to improve women’s technical literacy by teaching them how to code so they can find job employment online as freelancers.

What ‘inspired’ you to found Code to Inspire?

Women empowerment and education is my passion. I always wanted to do something for women in Afghanistan especially in the Technology area as my background is computer science. There are certainly many challenges and obstacles for women in Afghanistan, even more so in the Tech sector. One of the very important issues for women is to find job opportunities related to what they studied. Unfortunately safety and security issues in Afghanistan make it almost impossible for women to travel alone by themselves to another city if they find a job opportunity there. The majority of families won’t let their daughters travel alone and live in a city by themselves unless they have a close family member.

The main reason that inspired me to establish Code to Inspire is to provide a safe and secure educational and working space for women. Besides providing a technical curriculum for them, we try to find online job opportunities for them so they don’t have to be worry about travelling limitations. The only thing they need is a computer and Internet connection.

What are the two or three largest obstacles to implementing a program such as Code To Inspire in Afghanistan? How have you addressed each of these?

• Maintaining safety and security;
• Overcoming traditional barriers;
• Finding job employment for the girls in our coding school.

Code to Inspire is one of the first coding schools for girls in Afghanistan. We are going to build our first coding school in Herat, Afghanistan. Definitely the important issue for us is to have our place in a city that has less security concerns and also access to electricity and Internet. Our coding school is only for women so they can come and enjoy being in an environment which they feel more comfortable to communicate and be active. Also, once the families notice that their daughter doesn’t need to travel to have a job, that she can use this space to work online and get paid online, they are more willing to send their daughters. We really want to help the girls get a job and be involved in outsourcing projects. This is the only safe, culturally accepted way for girls to work without the fear of society limitations and also security aspects.

For the purpose of online job employment, we are reaching out to companies both inside and outside of Afghanistan. It can be any development job like designing and maintaining website, or mobile application, etc.

You are a refugee who spent her formative years in another country. What key lessons did you take away from this experience in your approach to helping others?

It doesn’t matter where you are or what you have, it is more important to know what you want to do in in your life. Being a refugee is a difficult and challenging life. Depending on where you live you are mainly considered as a second class citizen and do not have access to many services that the government provides. One of the important government services is education.

I like challenges, as they give me more strength. This is how you learn and you improve your skills and abilities to overcome barriers. Life as a refugee is tough but if you believe in your mission and yourself nothing can stop you and this led me to establishing the first coding school for girls in Afghanistan.

How important is education in promoting financial inclusion especially with respect to women?

Education is the key for human empowerment and independence. One you become an educated person, especially as a woman in a country like Afghanistan, you know more about your rights. An educated woman who is a future mother will train the next generation of the importance of education. Without enough education you definitely don’t know how to handle and keep track of your finances from a very simple step such as having a bank account to more life changing ones such as establishing you own business.

What is the most important lesson learned or consideration other countries or organizations must face when attempting to launch programs in countries such as Afghanistan?

I think one of the main issues is to first learn the culture, tradition and life style of people on that country. When you are going as an outsider if you know how to establish a relationship with locals based on understanding their customs, they are more willing to help and coordinate with your purpose.

What financial technologies do you believe have the best chance of success in Afghanistan?

Living in a world which everything can be done through mobile technologies and Internet makes it very easy for people to access everything faster and with less paper work hassles. Afghanistan’s population is 30 million and 85% of the population access mobile either directly or through a family member. I believe mobile banking and telecommunication areas can be used widely in Afghanistan as only 7% of people access Internet.

You are credited with introducing the Afghanistan market to Bitcoin. What attracted you to the technology and why do you believe digital currency can work in this region?

Afghanistan has been through war for almost three decades. There are still certain areas that are unstable and considered as a war zone. The infrastructure has been affected badly by war. Remittances to Afghanistan or from Afghanistan to overseas are very limited with many obstacles. PayPal isn’t supported in Afghanistan. If you want to send money using Western Union the transaction fee is very costly. Sending money using wire transaction requires a lot of paper work to prove where the money is going; it takes several business days to go through; and always includes a fee. The majority of people in Afghanistan are unbanked. The transactions and purchases are mainly done with cash. Online banking is not functioning well and people lack trust and credibility towards banks.

I think using blockchain technology and bitcoin as a currency helps many people to be included in a society’s financial system. The only thing you need is to have an email address to build a digital wallet for yourself online to store your bitcoin. No third party such as banks and governmental initiations are involved here to charge you with extra fees that can be meaningful to many people in a country like Afghanistan.

It is a currency for people’s empowerment. The blockchain technology is transparent and everything will be recorded in a public ledger, therefore, the chance for money laundry and corruption is less compare to current finance systems.

Who(m) do you believe has had the most influence with respect to your own career?

I definitely admire and get inspired by my parents on how they could handle a family with eight children living as refugees and supported us to get the education by any means and cost. I learned to be strong and a problem solver. I learned you can use the best out of the least.