Running one of iran's largest Internet service providers is close to a 24-hour job for Abdollah Fateh, who has to hustle to keep customers happy while prying more phone lines from the government. But recently a haggard-looking Fateh, who is Pars On-line's managing director, took time out for a meal at Monsoon, a popular Chinese restaurant in Tehran. Fateh, 31, grew up in Boston but moved back to Iran in 1995. Haggard or not, he doesn't regret leaving comfortable America one bit. "I can make a difference here," he says. Fateh has certainly made a splash. The Pars Online logo is as commonly seen around Tehran as the late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's scowling visage. Pars Online's business has grown tenfold in the last three years, to an estimated 120,000 customers. Fateh and his partner, Madjid Emami, are far from the only Iranian entrepreneurs who have found a sweet spot at home. The Tehran Stock Exchange rewarded investors with 130% gains for the year ended in March, and businesses ranging from autos to information technology are booming. "You can double [your business] here every year," says Mojdeh Abe-di, a 32-year-old Iranian woman who five years ago abandoned a legal career in Paris to manage a budding food additives business in Tehran.
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