Starting and maintaining a business in Afghanistan is not that easy as it seems, it requires determination and hard work, just to have a real idea about running business in Afghanistan. I interviewed Rahiba Rahimi, Founder and President of Laman clothing brand. Hope this gives an overview of doing business in Afghanistan.
Interviewee: Rahiba Rahimi, Founder and President, Laman,
Address; Old Taimani, behind Q Kabul,
Background:
Laman
was founded in 2015. They are a design company that produces clothing for both
men and women. They use a fusion of western designs and traditional Afghan
elements and handcraft in their work. While promoting local arts, they are
focusing to contribute and revive the cultural heritage of Afghanistan. Laman
is opening a new avenue for Afghan fashion into the modern world.
Rahiba
Rahimi, President of Laman, is currently a political science student at the
American University of Afghanistan. When Laman was established, she was only
21. She is a quite young female entrepreneur in a male dominated society. She
is also an advocate of women’s stand in afghan society. Most of her tailors are
female. She also makes an effort to reach out to women who have great handcraft
skills but cannot leave the house to work, so they work for Laman from their
homes.
I
learned about Laman through friends and have known Rahiba and her work at Laman
ever since the establishment of Laman. Most companies open for profit and use
the market’s demand to define themselves, however, Rahiba work with a vision
and leads the market toward it.
Rahiba
grew up watching the Afghan culture being cherished by her family in many ways
especially through clothing. She envisions reviving and re-discovering what she
calls the ‘almost forgotten’ ethnic traditional hand craft such as Afghan
embroidery that is mainly produced by women who have inherited the skills over
generations. She brings together the Afghan tailoring and embroidery with
western designs, to revive Afghan fashion and introduce it not only on national
but on international level.
What
influenced her the most was the desire to see Afghan designs in new forms and
produce fine pieces with International standards, thus not only revving Afghan fashion
but also redefining it.
There’s a huge
market for Afghan products, such as clothing with traditional Afghan elements.
Rahiba and other Laman co-founders saw this as an excellent opportunity for
continuously improving the quality of Afghan products and keep these high
quality products in the local and global market of fashion. Most of the
investors are leaving Afghanistan but they decided to invest. They are not only
willing but proud to work for Afghanistan.
In 2015, Laman
became the only private manufacturing company in Afghanistan to produce a line
of clothing in modern form. They held themselves to the standards of
International market. They hired professional workers all of whom work in
different parts to keep Laman a success in the local and global market
manufacturing company. They sought
advice from other entrepreneurs who had experience in the market. As part of
representing Afghan fashion and clothing, they regularly participate in
national and international exhibitions. They have participated in exhibitions
in Dubai in 2015, in Nepal in 2018 and in India almost every year since 2015.
They have held runway shows inside Kabul, at Laman house, U.S. embassy ad
British consulate.
More companies
began opening, however, they have been able to stand out through their
marketing and work quality. Due to the lack of availability of raw materials
within Afghanistan, high salaries of professional workers, and having to hire
trainers from abroad, their prices turned out to be higher than their
competitors, which limited their coverage of different socioeconomic classes.
The major
problem that they faced was security. They still face this problem and try to
keep low profile. While they want to revolutionize Afghan fashion, they reorient
their activities to be more cultural sensitive.
Rahiba’s advice
to other entrepreneurs is that they go after something they believe in and
love. Once they start, they should continually recreate themselves and evolve.
This will keep them relevant to the market and keep them energized and
motivated to do more and keep moving.
