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Who is Roya Mahboob?

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Published in: QAMA Stories

Roya Mahboob is an Afghan entrepreneur and philanthropist, who serves as the founder and CEO of the Afghan software company ACSC and the Digital Citizen Fund. Mahboob became a figure with a significant role in the lives of girls in Afghanistan, and she was selected in 2013 on TIME’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Mahboob was born in Herat, Afghanistan.

However, after the Soviet invasion, she fled the country with her family to Pakistan and Iran for a while before returning to Afghanistan in 2003.

In 2005,

Mahboob joined the UN Development Program for Women and received training at the Institute of Information and Communications Technology. Four years later, in 2009, she receiveda bachelor’s degree in computer science from Herat University.

In 2012,

Mahboob teamed up with online film distribution platform Film Annex and WebTV Network to launch the Afghanistan Development Project, and formed a partnership to build online classrooms.

In 2013,

she co-founded the Digital Citizen Fund, a non-profit organization founded in New York with the goal of empowering girls and women in developing countries by providing access to technology and virtual connectivity, and helping them gain the skills necessary to succeed in a growing global marketplace.

In 2017,

Mahboob founded the Afghan Girls Robotics, also known as the Afghan Dreamers, an all-girls team from Herat, Afghanistan. The team won a number of international awards and honors in various robotics competitions.

In August 2021,

Qatar provided support to the team, helped evacuate its members in two groups, and gave them the opportunity to complete their studies through full scholarships provided by the Qatar Foundation and the Qatar Fund for Development.

Mahboob was born in Herat, Afghanistan.

In March 2022,

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, awarded Mahboob the Doha Forum Award for her great efforts in establishing the  Afghan Girls Robotics despite the various challenges.

These efforts confirm the great role that Mahboob played in helping women and children in Afghanistan and her keenness to contribute effectively to serving the women and girls of her country and providing them with the necessary support.

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