Aziza Akrami, a young Afghan woman, who graduated with an MBA from the Porto Business School at the end of 2024, thanks to the partnership between this school and Nexus 3.0, as well as the support of Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) was nominated as Afghanistan’s Youth Representative to the United Nations, becoming the fifth young Afghan to hold the role.
This position, awarded annually through a competitive process run by a civil society group, resumed this year after a three-year pause following the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in August 2021.
Aziza Akrami was chosen from three finalists, Fatema Forotan, Wazhma Rahmani and Akrami, in a speech competition held on 11 September in The Hague.
Aziza Akrami was granted a scholarship in 2023 by Nexus 3.0. She arrived in Portugal in November 2023 and was admitted to the Porto Business School for an MBA. After completing her MBA, Aziza was granted an internship at Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), one of the co-founders of the Beacon of Hope scholarship program, which Nexus 3.0 has designed and implemented since 2023.
Aziza has a long-standing history of civic engagement in Afghanistan. She is a co-founder of Empowered Circle, an organization that has provided health and education services to over 8,000 women and children in underserved areas of Afghanistan since 2021. The organizers of the competition she won said her work as both an entrepreneur and a human rights advocate helped secure her selection for the role.
On behalf of Nexus 3.0 and its partners, as well as in the name of all her colleagues from the Beacon of Hope programme, we congratulate Aziza very warmly and wish her all the best in her new endeavor.
For further information, see:
https://www.cspps.org/news/elevating-afghan-voices-international-policy-domains-introducing-2025-afghan-youth
The Beacon of Hope scholarship program aims to support 50 young Afghan students, enabling them to pursue their higher education. Since 2023, 16 students have been admitted to higher education institutions in Portugal. Among them, two have completed an MBA and three are about to achieve their Master’s degrees, while the others will complete their bachelor’s degrees at the end of the 2025-26 academic year. A new cohort of 15 Afghan female students is expected to arrive in Portugal over the coming months.
Join us in supporting these talented students!
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Contact us: board@nexus3.pt.
Thank you.
(Photo taken from https://www.afintl.com/en/202509131346)
