ROYA MAHBOOB

THE DIGITAL FIRESTARTER
AI Founding CEO of Afghan Citadel Software Company Digital Rights, Resistance & the Fight for Afghan Girls' Education

“If I teach them, no one can stop them.”

THE WORK

Roya Mahboob is one of Afghanistan's first female tech CEOs. As founder of Afghan Citadel Software Company in Herat, she built a majority-female team in a country where women rarely work outside the home - developing software for government ministries, private companies, and NATO.

But ACSC was just the beginning. Through her Digital Citizen Fund, Mahboob built 13 technology and innovation centres inside Afghan public schools, training over 24,000 girls in coding, digital literacy, and entrepreneurship.

THE RESULT

In 2017 she founded the Afghan Girls Robotics Team, known as the "Afghan Dreamers”, sending a group of teenagers to compete against the best in the world in Washington D.C. They came home with a Courageous Achievement Award, and something harder to measure: a shift in how Afghan society saw its own women.

Her work made her a target. After receiving death threats from the Taliban, Mahboob fled Afghanistan in 2013. The very same year, she was named as one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World. As soon as she could return safety to Afghanistan, she did so, and kept on building.

"The loss of the rights of women in Afghanistan, especially regarding education, is heartbreaking. What keeps me and many other women in Afghanistan motivated is we believe that we are not defined by the circumstances we are in. We know that the fight for equality is long and difficult, but it is not impossible.”

WHY SHE’S A GODMOTHER

Roya Mahboob is a revered figure in the Godmothers canon because she stands up for her principles fearlessly. She has fought for women’s education even when it put her life at risk. Mahboob proves that women can use anything to start a revolution: a laptop, a line of code or a voice than refuses to be silenced. It is her passion and resilience that took the Afghan Girls Robotics Team to international fame and gave thousands of Afghan girls the opportunity to learn.

Role:

CEO, Afghan Citadel Software Company

Focus:

Afghan digital development, women’s tech empowerment, digital literacy

Known for:

Being one of Afghanistan’s first female IT CEOs, founding the Afghan Girls Robotics Team and Women’s Annex.

Impact:

Igniting a women-led tech ecosystem in Afghanistan and inspiring a global conversation about who gets to build the future.

Notable:

Courage in STEM Award (2025)

Doha Forum Award (2022)

Asia Game Changer Award (2019)

World Economic Forum Young Global Leader (2015)

Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award (2014)

TIME 100 Most Influential People (2013)