She came to St. Louis with her family as an Afghan refugee. She’s now a clothing entrepreneur

ST. LOUIS — It was around Eid-al-Fitr, one of two main holidays for Muslims, that Freshta Zary saw a business opportunity.

When Zary lived in Kabul, Afghanistan, it was customary for people to buy new clothes for themselves and loved ones for the holidays and other special occasions. But in St. Louis, where Zary came as a refugee from the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, that type of traditional clothing and jewelry is hard to find. Zary started importing them herself.

Now she is one of eight Afghan refugees launching businesses in the St. Louis region with the help of a $15,000 grant from the Afghan Outreach Initiative. Zary, who imports and sells clothing and accessories from her home in Affton, is the first woman to win a grant. She and other supporters hope that inspires other Afghan women.

“Here there is the chance for anybody,” said Zary, 33. “And a lot of people support us and want to help us.”

The Afghan Outreach Initiative — a partnership between the International Institute of St. Louis and attorney and philanthropist Jerry Schlichter — has helped resettle more than 1,500 refugees in the region since the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. The effort has helped nearly double the local Afghan population to about 4,000 people, said Moji Sidiqi, director for multicultural affairs and Afghan outreach for the International Institute.

The program is part of several civic efforts to bring more refugees and immigrants here in a bid to reverse decades of population loss in the region. U.S. Census data released recently showed the St. Louis region led the nation in growing its immigrant population last year with the biggest one-year percentage increase locally on record.

The entrepreneurship grants help Afghans build opportunities and wealth they can use to lift up others in the community, Schlichter said. The first winner, the owner of Raza Auto Sales and Repairs, hired other Afghans and recently opened a second location, he said.

The past five winners of entrepreneurial grants also include Afghan refugees who started a home repair and remodeling company, a handbag design company and two photography and videography businesses.

“It’s a self-perpetuating opportunity for growth,” Schlichter said.

Zary was one of three people awarded grants at a ceremony last month, selected from among more than 30 applicants by judges from organizations including the St. Louis Mosaic Project and the Cortex Innovation District. Each recipient had to have arrived in the U.S. as a refugee since 2021.

Sidiqui, herself an Afghan refugee who came to the U.S. with her family more than two decades ago, said that women rarely start their own businesses or pursue professional careers in traditional Afghan culture.

“They don’t necessarily see themselves as business owners or leaders, even though they’re highly skilled,” Sidiqi said. She hopes Zary helps “open a floodgate for other Afghan women.”

Zary currently works from her home, where her husband, Masood, also sews clothes for men. She plans to use the grant to set up a website, buy a camera and lighting to photograph inventory, sewing machines, and more clothes from abroad for her business, Zeeb Cloth.

Zary, a law school graduate, ran three private schools in Kabul and Masood was an IT worker for the U.S. Army. When the U.S. military withdrew, their family fled the Taliban. Zary, then pregnant with her third child, remembers scrambling through throngs of people at the airport to get to one of the last planes carrying refugees from the Taliban out.

After months in limbo in Qatar and Germany and three U.S. cities, they were granted refugee status and sent to St. Louis. The Institute helped them find a house and work. Zary is also a case worker with Monarch Immigrant Services, a nonprofit that helps refugees.

She hopes to open her own business on South Grand Boulevard, near the Institute’s Afghan Community Center, a mosque led by Afghans and some Afghan grocery stores.

At the celebration last month, Zary inspired at least one more person to join her business venture.

Hadia Hashemi, who was a tailor in Afghanistan before fleeing to the U.S., said she has been looking for work. She and Zary exchanged phone numbers.

And two other entrepreneurs made plans for their grant money.

Ferdous Sakhiza, who was a landscaper for 13 years in Afghanistan, plans to buy a truck and equipment and hire help.

Sakhiza and his family fled the Taliban takeover with just one suitcase of belongings after losing everything else. But St. Louis welcomed him, he said.

He worked for an area landscaper, Galaxy Maintenance, for two years before buying his own professional lawnmower and setting out on his own. He thanked his former employer and the Afghan Outreach Initiative with helping him and other refugees.

“I’m so lucky that I met so many kind people,” he said. “It gives me more hope that when they say ‘you can’, I really can.”

Khalid Naseeri, an electrician who worked with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan for more than a decade, won a grant to start his own company, Smart Electric LLC, installing and repairing electrical systems. He worked part-time for another electrical company here and drove for ride-sharing apps like Uber to support his wife and young daughter.

His grant will pay for a van, equipment and electrical materials he needs to work full time, he said.

“It’s really a big help,” Naseeri said. “It means I can have my dream.”