Durkanhai Ayubi stood on the stage at Adelaide Oval’s William Magarey Room two weeks ago to be recognised as one of South Australia’s top young entrepreneurs.

Ayubi is one of InDaily and CityMag’s 40 Under 40 for 2022 – it’s a program designed to recognise the young leaders who are doing significant work in many fields in South Australia.

She also won an individual prize – the social impact award.

On stage, she talked about the power of the moment – that someone who came to Australia as a young refugee girl, could gain such recognition.

Ayubi and her family run the renowned Parwana Restaurant in Adelaide. A book of the same name by Durkanhai includes recipes but also stories of her family, who fled Afghanistan in the 1980s and finally settled in Adelaide.

She is a restaurateur, but also scientifically trained – a writer, thinker and activist.

Ahead of Refugee Week, we hear her extraordinary story in her own words.

We also talk to Carmen Garcia – an Adelaide businesswoman and one of the first 40 Under 40 winners back in 2018 – who works through her social enterprise, Community Corporate, to link people like refugees with employers.

You can read about the full 40 Under 40 in CityMag – either online or in a special edition on the streets now.

Notes on Adelaide is a weekly current affairs podcast driven by the independent journalism of InDaily, CityMag and SALIFE, and produced by Solstice Podcasting.

New episodes are uploaded weekly. You can find the podcast on InDaily or on your favourite podcast app including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Listen to our previous episodes here.