Fatema Akbari

Fatema Akbari (; born 1974) is an Afghan and ethnic Hazara entrepreneur and women's rights advocate who is the founder of the Gulistan Sadaqat Company and non-governmental organization the Women Affairs Council. In 2011, she received the 10,000 Women Entrepreneurial Achievement Award.

Career Fatema Akbari was driven into carpentry by necessity as a means of supporting her children following the death of her husband in 1999, originally working on building sites in Iran, where her family fled when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. She attempted to provide a workforce base as a means of earning to wives of men killed or disabled during the conflict in Afghanistan. In 2009, she enrolled in the Goldman Sachs-sponsored 10,000 Women program at the American University of Afghanistan,

In expanding her operations and women's literacy classes, Akbari has been able to work in Taliban-controlled areas through negotiations with local leaders and has commented "It would be good for the Taliban to be involved in the country, to see that there’s nothing wrong with women leaving the house."

In 2004, Fatema Akbari founded Afghanistan NGO the Women Affairs Council to train women in handicrafts in addition to educating both sexes about human rights. Between the NGO and her own business, it was estimated that as of 2011 she had trained 5,610 people across Afghanistan.