[3][4] Fatema Akbari was driven into carpentry by necessity as a means of supporting her children following the death of her husband in 1999,[5] originally working on building sites in Iran, where her family fled when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.
[3] In 2003, she returned to the homeland and started furniture manufacturing business by establishing Gulistan Sadaqat Company in Kabul with a carpentry school.
[6] 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 presenting, Vital Voices commended her"for her work to empower other Afghan women — through the training and employment provided by her carpentry business, and through the literacy and skills training provided by her non-governmental organization (NGO) to women in Taliban-controlled areas.
"[3]During 30–31 March 2011, Akbari was a panel member at a 2-day conference in Dallas, Texas convened by former United States President George W. Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai entitled Building Afghanistan’s Future: Promoting Women’s Freedom and Advancing Their Economic Opportunity.