April 2015—Nahid Alefi saw a business opportunity in the increasing numbers of Afghan women working outside the family home. They needed help with the housework, she reasoned, and set up the Shahre Safa Cleaning Services Co. in Kabul.

“I know what it is like for working mothers, because I am one myself,” she explains. “There was a real need for this service.”

The company, founded in June 2014, offers professional cleaning and housekeeping services. This includes move-in and post-event cleaning, and carpet and window cleaning.

Support from USAID’s Assistance in Building Afghanistan by Developing Enterprises (ABADE) project enabled Alefi to invest in professional carpet cleaning machines and other equipment.

Her clients are enthusiastic about the services offered by the company. Mamlakat Nasrullah says her day is “so much easier …. They made my house thoroughly clean, inside and out, and they worked fast.”

Shahre Safa also generates jobs for women. Aqela Faiz Ahmad, one of the company's house cleaners, appreciates the work. “We only work in safe environments. I am very happy to be earning and to have learned how to operate the cleaning equipment and proper housekeeping, like how it is done in hotels.”

ABADE, a four-year project that began in October 2012, helps small and medium enterprises (SMEs), including women-owned enterprises. As of March 31, 2015, it had created 190 partnerships with SMEs in Kabul, Herat, Mazar-e Sharif and Jalalabad. Under the program, USAID has committed more than $17 million for new equipment, and SME partners have pledged corresponding investments of almost $109 million.

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