This paper analyzes the motivations of eight female Afghan entrepreneurs to start up their own business and the problems they encountered during start-up and operations. Income generation was the most important push factor but pull factors including desire for independence and autonomy were also important. However, in contrast to studies in other countries, the desire for achievement was not emphasized. An unexpected finding was the emphasis on the desire to help non-family members by running a business. The main problems included financial problems during start-up and operations, lack of contacts and security during operations. Gender-specific problems included limited market, mobility constraints and negative attitudes and lack of social acceptance for female entrepreneurs. The paper concludes with a discussion of the findings.