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 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.

Zary was one of three people awarded grants at a recent ceremony, 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.

Moji Sidiqi, director for multicultural affairs and Afghan outreach for the International Institute, 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.

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.