Ms. Kamila Sidiqi is a prominent economic activist in Afghanistan who has worked in leadership roles in various sectors. She is the CEO and Founder of Kaweyan Group of Companies. From June 2017 till March 2019 she worked for the promotion of Afghan trade and commerce as the Deputy Minister for Commerce at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. From 2014-2017 she was the Deputy Chief of Staff for Admin and Finance in the Administrative Office of President. For the past several years, she has been actively engaged in promoting gender issues, private sector development, transparency and anti-corruption in Afghanistan. Prior to joining the government, Ms. Sidiqi was a successful entrepreneur and was one the first businesswomen of Afghanistan. During her work in the private sector, she made ground breaking achievements in various fields and received recognition across the globe for her endeavors in male dominated sectors. She is currently working to promote leadership and entrepreneurship skills among Afghan men and women as a business consultant and advisor.
In June 2019 she was a panel speaker at the CAMCA Regional Forum in Tashkent. In February 2017, Ms. Sidiqi represented Afghanistan as a key speaker in the AFPAK Partnership Summit: Workable Solutions in a New Era which was held in Mali. In 2015, Ms. Sidiqi was a keynote speaker at The Economist Magazine’s World in 2016 event in Hong Kong and Singapore. The year 2014 saw Ms. Kamila as a speaker at the Power of Empowered Women Event organized by the United Nations in Geneva. She was a speaker at Regional Policy Dialogue on Central Asia’s Regional Challenges organized in Turkey by the Hollings Center and has represented Afghanistan’s women entrepreneurs in several B2B conferences organized in India, Tajikistan. She was also a founding member of the Steering Committee of the South Asia Women Entrepreneurs Symposium (SAWES).
The Dressmaker of Khair Khana which is a book on the life and achievements of Ms. Sidiqi has received international acclaim and recognition and was a New York Times Best Seller in 2012. It was a part of the Common Reading Program at University of Florida for the class of 2016.
Ms. Kamila has been recognized as a Peace Hero in Afghanistan in 2014 by Modern Organization for Education and Development. She was also part of The International Alliance of Women World of Difference awardees in 2014.