Fereshteh Forough is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Code to Inspire. Fereshteh is from Herat, Afghanistan. She received her bachelor’s degree in computer science from Herat University and a Master’s degree from Technical University of Berlin in Germany.
She taught as a professor in the Computer Science Faculty of Herat University for three years. Fereshteh was a 2013 TED Talks speaker on digital literacy and communication without borders. Her goal with Code To Inspire is to spread the message of peace and empower women everywhere. She is an advocate of using Bitcoin and the first to formally promote its use in Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s first female-only code school in Herat, Code to Inspire, became one of the 28 organizations from 16 countries to receive the Google RISE award in 2016. Code to Inspire is a non-profit that is committed to educating female students in Afghanistan and improving their technical literacy by teaching them how to code so they can find future employment as freelancer and become entrepreneurs driving innovation. The program is free of charge to students . Besides providing technical and professional development, CTI teaches students how to become strong, confident leaders and advocates for change. Forough is also a founding member of Women’s Annex Foundation. Her passion is to empower young women from Afghanistan by improving their technical literacy.
