Farhad Ghafoor

Farhad Ghafoor has 34 years of experience in the fields of Information Technology, Enterprise Computing/Managed Hosting and Telecommunications (Fiber Optics, Microwave and Satellite).  He has worked with companies from technology start-ups to large national telecommunications corporations.

Over the course of his career, he has acquired skills in executive management, leadership and mentoring, project management, technology sales, business development, information security, satellite, microwave, tactical comms, plant cabling, fiber optics, and broadband wireless internet services.  Through his philanthropic efforts, he has developed experience with education program development, skills training and nonprofit management.

Farhad started his professional career in 1989 as a Senior Technical Consultant and then Senior Engineer for MCI Telecommunications.  He then joined Intira, a Managed Hosting start-up, which owned data centers in California, St. Louis and New York.

In November 2002, Farhad returned to Afghanistan, his country of birth and played an important role in launching the first GSM wireless company in the country.  He served as a Director of Afghan Wireless, managing multiple departments, including IT, Broadband Internet, Sales, Customer Service and Call Center. In 2005, Farhad established an ICT company, RANA Technologies Enterprises (RTE), serving as Executive Vice President.   Under his leadership and management, one the most successful ICT companies was operated in the country.

Shortly after launching RTE, Farhad brought a wireless Internet services technology, WiMAX, for the first time in Afghanistan, and the region itself. This was a historic moment that shaped the country’s telecommunication’s sector as the company became the first ever to offer WiMAX based Internet services in Afghanistan. Farhad’s extensive experience in enterprise computing, as well as telecommunications, IT, business development, and sales empowered RTE to win numerous US government, UN, EU/EC, private and NGO contracts.

In 2009, Farhad led the negotiations in signing RTE as a L3Harris Authorized Dealer in Afghanistan, which led to L3Harris providing highly sophisticated Tactical Comms equipment to the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).  In 2015, Farhad led RTE to win a sub-contracting engagement with the U.S. government providing Intelligence, Reconnaissance and Surveillance (ISR) Services to the ANSF.

Farhad believes in the power of human capital and skills training for workforce development.  In 2015, he launched another company- RANA Vocational Training Center (RVTC), which has provided industry standard based vocational training in Afghanistan. Farhad also developed the business plan to launch the first ever Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Call Center in Afghanistan called Maloomat 411.  For the first time in the country’s history, a consumer could dial 411 on their mobile phone and obtain information from a call center with trained staff.

Farhad also believes in the importance of philanthropy and community service and in 2015, he founded the Ghafoor Foundation, a nonprofit organization that has focused on providing support for Education, ICT, Agribusiness, Arts and Sports in Afghanistan.  After the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, RTE had to down-size and Farhad spent over one year assisting Afghans at risk to evacuate and relocate to the United States and other countries in which they could seek refuge.

In May of 2022, with the vision to leverage the almost two decades of successful past performance providing ICT services to the federal government and international organizations, Farhad founded a company in the U.S., Stealth ICT, LLC. Farhad serves as its Chief Executive Officer and is working towards obtaining CISM Certification.

Farhad has a Master’s Degree in Telecommunications and Computers from George Washington University (1996) and a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering Sciences (Area of concentration: Electrical Engineering) from College of Staten Island, CUNY (1988).

Farhad loves to travel, having visited over 20 countries around the world and composes and plays traditional Afghan music, which can be found on Spotify and YouTube.

Farhad may be contacted at fghafoor@stealthict.com.