She is an Afghan serial entrepreneur, founder, and CEO of Afgan Citadel Software Company (ACSC), a software development company, based at Herāt. She founded ACSC with the intention to facilitate more jobs for recent graduates, especially girls, and helps them find opportunities in the new IT markets of Afghanistan. Roya, in 2013, was named to TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World for her innovative initiatives to expand technology education

In addition to being one of the first Afghan CEOs in the field of technology, Mahboob founded the Digital Citizen Fund, a non-profit organization that seeks to increase technology literacy and provide employment and education opportunities for women and children in Afghanistan. Roya has established nine computer technology centers across Afghanistan and plans to expand its programs to forty schools, aiming to reach over 160,000 female students. In addition to her work in Afghanistan, Mahboob has taken her education model to schools in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Nepal. Having received death threats from the Taliban and other groups because of her work, Mahboob had to leave the country in 2013 and spent two years working from various locations before she could return to Afghanistan in 2016.