Not everyone thinks giving clothes such controversial names is a good idea.

"If you call a tob Ocampo you'll go to jail!" a man shouted Plus Size Dresses the depths of one store.

"No tob called Ocampo will ever come into my shop. If Ocampo is available in shoes I'll buy them instead," said Tilal al-Nur in a nod towards the low regard for anything to do with the soles of the feet.

A reality TV show broadcast in Afghanistan is encouraging Afghans to start their own enterprises.â€کFikr wa Talash’, or â€کDream and Achieve’ in English, is loosely based on the popular UK â€کDragons’ Den’ series, in which contestants pitch their business Black Prom Dresses to a panel of tycoons in return for cash for their companies.The programme, the latest in a series of popular reality shows that have taken Afghanistan by storm, is more than just entertainment.

Its supporters hope that by encouraging small businesses, the programme will help Afghanistan’s economy become more self-reliant.“Small and medium-sized businesses, which are by far the largest employer, be it small self-employed farmers selling a surplus or a shop-keeper, trader...

are the key to achieving such self-reliance,â€‌ said David Elliot, Blue Prom Dresses development consultant for the programme’s makers.“Yet business skills and thinking, such as financial planning, marketing and competitive strategy, are all relatively new concepts that are needed to create a stronger, more resilient and healthy private sector, capable of being the â€کengine of growth’ for the economy,â€‌ added Elliot.Decades of war have devastated the Afghan economy and infrastructure and Afghanistan is still one of the world’s poorest countries despite receiving billions of dollars of international aid since 2001.The Afghan government relies on aid for about 90 per cent of its total expenditure.

Unemployment stands at around 40 per cent with 80 per cent of Afghanistan’s labour force employed in agriculture.

GDP per capita stood at just $1,000 last year.The show’s sponsors, short prom dresses US government aid agency USAID, mobile phone operator Roshan and Bank-e-Milli, saw the programme as an opportunity to foster an entrepreneurial spirit among ordinary Afghans.