My hope is this will drive down overall honey prices across the country as the operational costs as a whole should ideally decrease.

In case you are interested, the processing facility is called Season Honey Company.

The store owner opined that he would prefer to sell local Afghan products, but that the processing, packaging, and quality of products within Afghanistan were not sufficient.  He proceeded to open up two bags of off brand cheese puffs – one made in Iran, and the other made in Afghanistan.  We tasted both, and the Iranian ones were clearly better.

Afghanistan, and Herat in particular, needs access to better processing and packaging equipment.  Better access to this type of machinery will help local companies produce fresher, better looking, and higher quality products.  Packaging and processing food and other goods in Herat could result in lower priced food for locals and create additional jobs for the Afghan economy.

The Herat Incubator Team is very interested in meeting with companies that would like to establish their own packaging and processing plants in Afghanistan.  If you are such a company, and could use our consulting services, please contact us for additional information.

As a business, it’s critical to constantly think about disruptive technologies.  Time and time again the most powerful companies in the world ignore disruptive technologies until it’s too late – eventually driving industry leaders out of business.  You can either be the disruptor (Netflix) or the one being disrupted (Blockbuster).

Luke Williams, a leading consultant in Disruptive Thinking, has a must see video for anyone in business: Disruptive Thinking. 

We recently have accepted Goharbar, a company which aims to produce and market local Afghan honey.  Currently we have a Business and Technical consultant working with them on a day-to-day basis to hammer out a solid Business Plan prior to procuring the equipment necessary to produce honey and harvest it.  They are hoping to have equipment on ground and operation running by the end of March.

We have been busily working with NGO’s and local businesses to find local entrepreneurs in Afghanistan, primarily Herat – but open to any location.  We want to help grow local business, if you know of any entrepreneurs or start up businesses that could use some assistance, including office space, internet access and Business/Technical advisory – please reach out!

<a href=”http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kabul-Innovation-Lab/258853057509619?sk=infoDear&ref=nf”> Kabul Innovation Lab</a>

The link for the application is within the Facebook page as well.

What is it?
It is an effort to find IT savvy individuals in Afghanistan and bring them in for a three day lab to create tools which may benefit Afghan society.

It almost seems like a mini-Afghan version of Startup Weekend or perhaps even an addition to the Peace Dividend Trust (PDT) effort for their own Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) event held in Q4 2011.

I believe this opportunity is great, this is what is needed in Afghanistan.  The IT industry in the country is still budding, it is in its infancy – and the ideas/innovators that create high visibility and useful tools for the country use could catalyze a stronger movement towards development of IT.  I’m interested to learn more about what exactly will be taught and/or completed over the three days.  Is it truly a Startup Weekend initiative?  Or is this an educational bootcamp?

We are having our entrepreneurs apply for this great opportunity. Have you heard of other opportunities like this or have opinions on this one? Please leave us your thoughts.

“Thanks to the efforts of Ghaffar and other women’s rights activists, the final outcome document of the Bonn conference specifically states that the international community expects the peace and reconciliation process to respect the Afghan constitution and its provisions for the rights of women. Unfortunately, the document takes a less definitive approach to women’s participation in the peace process, merely calling for it to be “inclusive … regardless of gender.”
Article from the Guardian

Regardless of timelines, it seems the international community strongly backs Afghanistan’s rebuild efforts and seem to be willing to continue assistance, at this point indefinitely until the country is stable and safe from breaking into any sort of sectarian violence or civil war.

(Reuters) – Foreign governments pledged on Monday to support Afghanistan long after allied troops go home, with or without a political settlement with insurgents once seen as the best way to prevent a new civil war.

I have recently been reading about the IT sector in Afghanistan as I am trying to determine what the market demand of IT is, specifically on the western side which is less integrated with large IT providers versus Kabul. I came across the Afghan Computer Science Association. I am very interested to find out more about their projects and the work they are doing, potentially for tie in to the Herat Incubator Program. You may find their website here

What are your thoughts on Bonn, Afghanistans future, and IT in the area? Let us know, we’re interested in your thoughts!

Click HERE to read the NY Times article!

I remember arriving into Kabul International airport and have my biometric data filed in. Now that this technology has arrived, what implications does it have for local IT companies? Are biometric security measures used elsewhere in the country, if not, how can this be applied to modern IT infrastructure in the country?