Afghan toilet paper entrepreneur Zuhal Atmar overcame patriarchy and security threats to build a business that was set to go global due to a coronavirus-induced shortage. But then, the supply of her key raw material — trash — dried up.
COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a lockdown in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, forcing scavengers off the streets and slashing access to the waste paper and cardboard that Atmar recycles into pink-and-white bathroom roll.
As she ready to suspend operations at her manufacturing plant, she told AFP the virus was “the biggest challenge” she had ever long-faced.
“Even whereas managing security risks, we were still ready to do business. currently, I actually have no possibility but to throw my hands up,” the 35-year-old aforementioned.
Her plight highlights the world nature of the pandemic that has discontinuous lives across the globe, posing an enormous challenge even to businesses used to working under sharp constraints.
A rare feminine face in Afghanistan’s male-dominated business world, Atmar is well-versed within the art of finding artistic solutions to ostensibly intractable problems.
When the government imposed the lockdown to prevent the spread of infections last month, she promptly approached native hospitals giving to barter their waste paper for surplus masks she had purchased before the crisis hit.
