The Most Famous
BUSINESSPEOPLE from Afghanistan
This page contains a list of the greatest Afghan Businesspeople. The pantheon dataset contains 847 Businesspeople, 3 of which were born in Afghanistan. This makes Afghanistan the birth place of the 41st most number of Businesspeople behind Kazakhstan, and Pakistan.
Top 5
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Afghan Businesspeople of all time. This list of famous Afghan Businesspeople is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity.
1. Zuhal Atmar (b. 0)
With an HPI of 57.56, Zuhal Atmar is the most famous Afghan Businessperson. Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages on wikipedia.
Zuhal Atmar is an Afghan entrepreneur and environmentalist. She is noted for her pioneering work as the first woman who owned and ran a recycling plant in Afghanistan. Atmar is also a researcher and an economic affairs analyst. She was among the BBC's 2021 list of 100 inspiring women.
2. Zablon Simintov (b. 1960)
With an HPI of 48.19, Zablon Simintov is the 2nd most famous Afghan Businessperson. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.
Zablon Simintov or Zebulon Simentov (Dari/Pashto: زابلون سیمینتوف; Hebrew: זבולון סימן-טוב; born 1959) is an Afghan-born Israeli former carpet trader and restaurateur. Between 2005 and his evacuation to Israel in 2021, he was widely believed to be the only Jew still living in Afghanistan. He was also the caretaker of and lived in the Kabul synagogue, the only synagogue in the Afghan capital city Kabul. On 7 September 2021, shortly after the Taliban takeover, he left Afghanistan with the help of a private security company that had been organized by Israeli-American businessman Mordechai Kahana and American rabbi Moshe Margaretten from the Tzedek Association.
3. Ahmed Wali Karzai (1961 - 2011)
With an HPI of 46.28, Ahmed Wali Karzai is the 3rd most famous Afghan Businessperson. Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.
Ahmad Wali Karzai (Pashto: احمد ولي کرزی, Aḥmad Walī Karzay, 1961 – 12 July 2011) was an Afghan politician who served as Chairman of the Kandahar Provincial Council from 2005 until his assassination. He was the younger paternal half-brother of former Afghan President Hamid Karzai and an elder of the Popalzai tribe. Wali Karzai had formerly lived in the United States, where he managed a restaurant owned by his family. He returned to Afghanistan following the removal of the Taliban government in late 2001. He had been accused of political corruption and was allegedly on the CIA payroll. He was assassinated at his residence by one of his close bodyguards, Sardar Mohammad, on 12 July 2011.
4. Roya Mahboob (b. 0)
With an HPI of 32.61, Roya Mahboob is the 4th most famous Afghan Businessperson. Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Roya Mahboob (Dari: رویا محبوب) is an Afghan businesswoman. She founded and is CEO of the Afghan Citadel Software Company, a full-service software development company based in Herat, Afghanistan. She has received attention for being among the first IT female CEOs in Afghanistan, where it is still relatively rare for women to work outside the home. On 18 April 2013, Mahboob was named to Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2013 for her work in building internet classrooms in high schools in Afghanistan and for Women's Annex, a multilingual blog and video site hosted by Film Annex. This was the 10th anniversary of the TIME special edition. The Women's Annex platform give the women of Afghanistan and Central Asia a platform to tell their stories to the world. The Time magazine introduction to Mahboob was written by Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook at the time and the author of "Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead". U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Mahboob and other Afghan women entrepreneurs at the International Center for Women's Economic Development at the American University of Afghanistan. She is also known for her work with online film distribution platform and Web Television Network Film Annex on the Afghan Development Project. She is an advisor at the Forbes School of Business & Technology.
5. Hasina Jalal (b. 0)
With an HPI of 27.76, Hasina Jalal is the 5th most famous Afghan Businessperson. Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.
Hasina Jalal (Dari: حسینه جلال) is a women's rights and pro-democracy advocate and an exiled and endangered scholar from Afghanistan, with over a decade of experience in policy advocacy, civil society engagement and academic scholarship. In 2014, Jalal was elected by public vote to receive the "N-Peace Award" from the UN Secretary General's Special Advisor on the University for Peace and UNDP Asia Pacific Regional Office. Hasina is a member of the New University in Exile Consortium and a Fellow of the Pittsburgh Network for Threatened Scholars. She has taught economics, human rights, and political science-related courses at business schools as well as political science departments in both the US and Afghanistan. She held several senior positions within the Government of Afghanistan, including serving as the Research Team Lead and Policy Expert at the Presidential Palace and Policy Advisor to the Minister and Director of the Program Design and Donor Coordination Directorate at the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum. She co-founded and served as the Executive Director of the National Association of Afghanistan Civil Society (NAACS), and played a key role in establishing the first South Asian alliance focused on women’s economic, social, and cultural rights (SAFA) in Sri Lanka.
People
Pantheon has 5 people classified as Afghan businesspeople born between 1960 and 1961. Of these 5, 4 (80.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Afghan businesspeople include Zuhal Atmar, Zablon Simintov, and Roya Mahboob. The most famous deceased Afghan businesspeople include Ahmed Wali Karzai. As of April 2024, 3 new Afghan businesspeople have been added to Pantheon including Zuhal Atmar, Roya Mahboob, and Hasina Jalal.
Living Afghan Businesspeople
Go to all Rankings
Zuhal Atmar
HPI: 57.56
Zablon Simintov
1960 - Present
HPI: 48.19
Roya Mahboob
HPI: 32.61
Hasina Jalal
HPI: 27.76
