Partnership helps 10 Afghan women test business concepts at Cortex

A sweet and savory blend of basmati rice and lamb, cooked with raisins, slivered carrots and pistachios would appear on the menus both Abida Nawabi Attazada and Freshta Zary plan for their budding businesses.

Known as Kabuli pulao, the national dish of Afghanistan, it’s just one of that nation’s delicacies the two women plan to feature. “I see a lot of Americans, they really like to try different cultures, different foods,” Zary said. “I think that will be successful.”

But are their concepts solid enough to launch a business? That’s the question Zary, Attazada and eight other Afghan women grappled with in the latest cohort of Cortex’s Square One Ignite program. The course gives prospective founders the tools to validate their business models and arrive at a go/no-go decision. The most recent cohort included 34 prospective founders.

The 10 Afghan women are participating through a partnership between Cortex and Welcome Neighbor STL, which guides refugees and immigrants toward financial independence. Cortex provided scholarships for the 10 women to participate in the program. The district also purchased a system to allow Welcome Neighbor-provided real time interpretation into Dari for students still uncertain of their English-language skills. Thanks to the scholarships, Welcome Neighbor diverted grant funding from tuition to laptops for the participating women.

In four weeks, Square One Ignite guides participants toward focusing their concept, understanding their potential customers, stress-testing the idea and deciding whether to proceed. It includes one-on-one coaching between group sessions.

The Cortex-Welcome Neighbor partnership fulfills a long-time ambition of Cortex to expand and formalize entrepreneurship services to immigrants, according to Gabriela Ramirez-Arellano, Cortex’s vice president for entrepreneurship.

“When Welcome Neighbor approached us, we said, ‘Hey, we want to do this. Let’s figure it out,’” Ramirez-Arellano said. “It's a dream come true for us. Let’s bring in everything we need and have to make it possible.”

A key link was a previous participant in the Square One Ignite program and its follow-up soup-to-nuts business plan course, Square One Bootcamp. Zohra Zaimi, a Moroccan immigrant, went on to launch Zohra’s Moroccan Bit n’ Bites, a regular at the Tower Grove Farmers Market. She also runs Welcome Neighbor's supper club program. Her experience inspired Welcome Neighbor to reach out to Cortex.

Ann Wittman, executive director for Welcome Neighbor, has positioned the Cortex partnership as a keystone in its own entrepreneurship program, designed to create a path for immigrant families toward financial security.

“Cortex is an essential part of our Entrepreneur Launchpad,” she said. “We don't have the expertise to teach them about everything.” And while their most recent class of 10 Afghan women are all focused on food-related businesses, Wittman envisions men and women participating in future cohorts — and leveraging skills carried with them from their home country.

For their part, Zary and Attazada see launching their businesses as the next step in their long road since fleeing Afghanistan during the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August 2021. Attazada’s path went through a refugee camp in the United Arab Emirates, where she, her husband, two boys and a girl spent nine months in a single room before receiving U.S. immigration visas and arriving in St. Louis in June 2022. She has since had a fourth child, a boy, in the U.S.

Zary’s husband and two daughters fled through Qatar, Germany, Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Kansas City before arriving in St. Louis in March 2022. She, too, has since had another child, a daughter, in the U.S. Through Welcome Neighbor, both learned to drive and received driver’s licenses. Both families own houses and both women hold jobs. Zary is a case worker for Monarch Immigrant Services. Attazada is a translator for St. Louis Public Schools.

Both say participating in the Square One Ignite program has given them clarity about the viability of their business ventures. Zary wants to establish a meal-delivery service to provide home-cooked Afghan cuisine to households in the region. Attazada is interested in event catering that includes decorations, party favors and, of course, the food of her homeland.

“We just went for our goals,” Attazada said. “For that and our education. We wanted to take that energy, not even just for us, but for our children's future.”

Need to receive additional resources for your existing business? Applications for the 2026 session of Cortex's Square One Bootcamp is open! Learn more here.