Being bought up in a family of entrepreneurs, Rifhat was always keen to explore the theory behind the practice of entrepreneurship. In 1999 she completed her undergraduate degree in Business Administration at Cardiff University and began working in industry. Rifhat worked for several high-profile organisations before embarking on her teaching career. Between 2006 and 2008, Rifhat successfully completed her PGCE in Post Compulsory Education and began lecturing at a local college. In 2019 she joined the Enterprise and Start-Up department at Cardiff University. Having a passion for developing methods in which students can explore their entrepreneurship skills, Rifhat developed the Student Consultancy Project and the Wales Student Market while working for the Enterprise and Startup department. She was also the Enactus Advisor that saw the team reach semi-finals due to their collaborative work with Cardiff Business School and local refugees.
In 2022, Rifhat graduated with a MSc in Business Strategy and Entrepreneurship. While studying, Rifhat took part in the Aspect Student Accelerator programme - a flagship four-month social sciences accelerator hosted by LSE to support and scale socially responsible student and alumni ventures. After graduation, Rifhat moved on to work the Big Ideas Wales project as part of Business Wales Youth Entrepreneurship Strategy.
Rifhat is an advocate for female and ethnic minority entrepreneurship. As well as launching her own Modest Fashion business to become a role model, she helped to develop the Assaadaqat Community Finance Women's Entrepreneurship Programme, where she still sits as a board member. Rifhat is also a member of the Enterprise Education Impact Research Group, a cross institutional group of researchers interested in exploring the impacts of enterprising and entrepreneurial education in a wide range of contexts. Additionally, Rifhat is a board member for the Nominations and Representations Committee for Enterprise Educators UK, assisting in monitoring equality, diversity and inclusion across the organisation and recommending appropriate controls to the Board.
Rifhat joined Cardiff Metropolitan in September 2023. She is exploring research topics for her doctoral research while working towards her teaching fellowship.