‘I knew my business was a success when after 12 months I no longer had to take my father, posing as the CEO, with me to every meeting in order to be taken seriously.’
Nazanin Daneshvar, below, is one of a growing number of women who have created start-ups in Tehran despite being cut off from the world by sanctions. While she was working in Berlin as a software developer on a deal-of-the-day website she had the idea of creating an Iranian version. She knew Iranians in the middle of an economic crisis would love a bargain.
The 26-year-old and her sister, working from her parents’ dining room, set up takhfifan.com, which offers discounts on everything from restaurants and hotels to concert tickets and coffee houses.