The Personal Side of Global Mobility: Zohra’s Story
We live in a world of nations and borders. International and local laws and regulations exist to keep order, but they can be complex, bureaucratic and, on a personal level, intimidating. Anyone who has waited for a work visa to be stamped or struggled with taxes in a new country will know that the world of international travel and work can be confusing and stressful.
But there are people who have learned not just how to navigate this world, but how to make it safer and more accessible for others. There are organisations that have made it their core mission to make international expansion and international work a great experience.
For them, it’s not just business, it’s personal.
Fleeing From Afghanistan to India
One of Zohra Wafi-Miller's most vivid memories is fleeing Afghanistan with her family in 1991 at the age of seven. The dictatorship there had collapsed and the Mujahideen factions were fighting each other to take control of the country. Along with her mother and siblings, Zohra, fled to India, while her father, a flight engineer, stayed on with Ariana Afghan Airlines.
In the following years, Zohra’s father tried to keep his livelihood as a flight engineer in Afghanistan, but this was, at best, difficult and sometimes impossible. With the Taliban taking over the country, international sanctions limited travel and, after 9/11, the US invasion of Afghanistan began in October 2001.
Eventually, some stability returned, but a devastated Afghanistan was in desperate need of rebuilding. Zohra was ready to help.
In 2008, having graduated in India, Zohra joined the Palladium Group and returned to Afghanistan to spearhead the proposed development and execution of their first Australian and World Bank funded projects as part of an overall international effort to rebuild the country at a cost more than $200 billion. For Zohra, this was just the beginning of the work that would become her mission.
Zohra’s Journey Across the Globe
Over the next twelve years, she would work in Afghanistan, Australia, East Timor, Indonesia, Jordan, Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania, the UAE, and the UK driving international development programs of work. Her experience and knowledge of social and economic redevelopment grew enormously, managing and leading a multi-sectoral portfolio of more than 20 international development projects worth over $500 million while training and supervising more than 150 dedicated local field staff.
Helping to rebuild the country of her birth was the start of a personal journey that brought her from living in India and Afghanistan to Dubai (2009), Australia (2011) and then to Washington D.C. (2012) where she married her American fiancée.
In the US, now working with companies like Palladium Group, PWC, and Guidehouse, she continued her mission with USAID projects for Afghanistan and other countries. She also started to use her now considerable experience with government and NGOs to inform overall strategy around government services and compliance.
As part of her work, Zohra became expert at building international teams – hiring, on-boarding, complying with local laws, taxes and cultures. Throughout this time, she never forgot that each job, each visa, each new place to live is a deeply personal experience for the worker involved. As a true citizen of the world herself, she brought real empathy and experience to the mission of building happy, safe and productive international teams.
It seemed so natural then in 2021, when an ex-colleague suggested to Zohra that she consider a role here in Atlas, an Employer of Record company. Atlas empowers companies to hire, onboard, manage and pay international workers – from a single hire up to hundreds, from small businesses up to large NGO initiatives. Core to the mission for Atlas is an absolute focus on the personal experience of each and every worker. With dedicated local support teams and with local direct entities in more than 160 countries – Atlas is there for each client company and each worker with personal, local support.
For Atlas and Zohra – this was a meeting of minds and of missions.
Bringing Top Experience to Atlas’ Global Team
Joining Atlas, Zohra brought her deep experience working with governments around the world to help build the Government Services practice. She was then promoted to Enterprise Risk Manager, where she has helped develop the company’s Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Framework aligned with the global industry standards of COSO framework. Zohra also led the configuration of Atlas’s Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) tool and oversaw implementation.
Zohra has recently been promoted to Director, Risk & Compliance and is now leading a team of Risk & Compliance SMEs to further mature this function. For companies expanding internationally - compliance is one of the most critical and complex areas to get right – both for the company and the onsite workers. That’s why it is a core focus area for Atlas and, with people like Zohra driving that focus, we know we can continue to lead in that area.
The family that fled the Mujahideen in 1991 is now truly international. Zohra’s Mum and Dad live in Turkey, Zohra’s brother is in Germany, and her sister in the UK. Meanwhile, Zohra lives in Reno, Nevada and works remotely for Atlas. They try to all get together in Turkey once a year if they can. Zohra’s personal world-map is wider, more diverse and more vivid than the average person and she continues to try to make that world safer and more accessible for others.
For Zohra and Atlas, it’s not just business, it’s personal.