Both students’ paths are an impressive testament to the importance of programmes like the Hilde Domin Scholarship that fund talented people from crisis regions. The programmes support not only their personal development but also positive changes in society more generally.
Azimi Rahmatullah – An extraordinary candidate for the SEPT programme
“Across the globe, many talented young people are limited in what they can do because of social or political circumstances. These scholarships allow them to tap into their potential, and that benefits our society,” emphasises Janka Linke, SEPT programme coordinator at Leipzig University, when discussing the importance of the Hilde Domin programme. Together with Helen Matthey from the International Centre, she nominated Azimi for the scholarship programme in August 2023. “We review several criteria when it comes to choosing our candidates. The most important is their previous academic work, which is ideally outstanding. Their motivation and entrepreneurial experience also play a role. Azimi ticked all the boxes. He brings together all three criteria perfectly: excellent academic work, entrepreneurial experience and strong motivation,” says Linke.
She was particularly impressed by the work he had done to support women in Afghanistan. Azimi founded the Kabul IELTS Center, an educational institution that focuses especially on women, empowering them by providing them better educational opportunities. He also co-founded Avecina High School where he teaches street boys free of charge. “I also think Azimi’s intercultural background is a great advantage. He was born in Afghanistan, went to school in Pakistan for several years, then he studied in India and now he’s continuing his studies here in Germany,” Linke explains further.
Azimi’s digital skills are also valuable for his MBA programme. He believes digitalization presents a major opportunity for Afghan women who own small businesses: “In my research paper this semester, I’m looking at digitalization in small and mid-sized enterprises with a particular focus on Afghan women with small businesses. Afghan women are skilled in craftsmanship, but especially in rural areas they have no or only a few clients who can buy the products they create. The women therefore sell their products to local businesses at low prices. The business owners sell the products at very high prices to various customers, but the women don’t share in any of that profit,” Azimi explains.
Azimi is now 26 years old, but when he was a young child, he sold his parents handmade products on the street. “Back then I didn’t know how I could increase the sales of those beautiful crafts. If I had had the possibility of working online, I would have been able to reach many more clients for them. That’s why I’m very passionate about supporting Afghan women today,” says Azimi. His plans on this topic don’t stop there: He wants to start a consulting firm to support Afghan women in establishing and digitalizing their business. His goal is to offer online consulting to give them the information they need to be able to present their products to more clients using digital platforms. His current project is bringing handcrafted Afghan products to Germany in order to sell them directly to other Afghans without any middlemen who take a share of the profits.
Azimi has a clear vision: He wants to use education, consulting and digital technologies to help women in Afghanistan achieve economic independence. This makes him a textbook example of the Hilde Domin Programme’s impact: “Without the scholarship, I probably would not have been able to study in Germany. The programme is securing my academic and professional future while also offering me a chance to change something in my home country,” the student says.
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