Founder and President, Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC)

Ejaj Ahmad is Founder and President of Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC). He developed the idea for BYLC while he was a graduate student at Harvard University, and established the social enterprise in Bangladesh in 2009 with the vision of creating a more just, prosperous, and inclusive society by training the next generation of leaders. Over the past 10 years, he has overseen the organization’s rapid growth—to date, there are 4,500 BYLC alumni, many of whom have gone on to leadership roles across Bangladesh and abroad. BYLC today is disrupting the higher education landscape in Bangladesh by providing world-class leadership training through physical and blended courses, tackling youth unemployment by influencing government policies, connecting youth to jobs through physical and online networks, and instilling in them values of public service and community engagement. Furthermore, BYLC is creating the next generation of high impact entrepreneurs through incubation and investment support. For his work, Ahmad received numerous national and international awards and fellowships, most notably the Ashoka Fellowship, Eisenhower Fellowship, and Harvard Kennedy School’s Rising Star Award. He received his M.P.P. from Harvard University and his M.A. with honors in economics from St. Andrews University.