About Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center
(BYLC)

Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC) empowers young people with leadership, professional, and entrepreneurial skills to create impact across public, private, and civil sectors. Grounded in empathy, tolerance, and inclusiveness, BYLC brings together diverse youth to practice leadership and contribute to a more just, inclusive, and prosperous society.

Our Story

BYLC’s journey started in January 2008 when Ejaj Ahmad—then a graduate student at Harvard—conceived of a leadership program that would unite youth from diverse backgrounds, equip them with leadership skills, and engage them in active citizenship. Ejaj and Shammi Quddus—then an undergraduate student at MIT—developed a proposal for a month-long leadership program, Building Bridges through Leadership Training (BBLT), and won the Kathryn Davis Projects for Peace Prize in March 2008. This supported them to run a pilot BBLT program with 30 high school and college students from English medium, Bangla medium, and Madrassa backgrounds in Chittagong, Bangladesh.

 

 
Following the tremendous success of the pilot, BYLC formed its Governing Board in October 2008. In early 2009, it was registered with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms in Bangladesh as a non-partisan social venture committed to promoting justice, prosperity, and inclusiveness in society by training the next generation of leaders. Subsequently, BYLC has developed relationships with many leading national and international organizations and expanded its programs to thousands of students from all corners of Bangladesh. Within a span of thirteen years, BYLC has transformed from a living room project to one of the most trusted, respected, and sought after youth leadership platforms in Bangladesh.

Our Vision, Mission, & Goal

Our Vision

Create a prosperous, just, inclusive society and a sustainable world driven by courageous, compassionate, and competent leaders.

Our Mission

Enable youth to have high impact in public, private, and civil sectors and demonstrate proactive actions for positive socio-economic and environmental change.

Our Goal

 Equip young people to lead social transformation for positive changes in society, contribute to national prosperity through employment opportunities, job creation, and caring for the environment

Our Values

Practice Adaptive Leadership

Stay diagnostic in the middle of action, take ownership, run experiments to innovate, and be committed to both action and reflection. 

Integrity

Be honest and transparent in all our dealings with students, colleagues, partners, and stakeholders.

Excellence In Everything We Do

Produce the highest quality of work through initiative, punctuality, attention to detail, positive energy, and professionalism.

Respect For Others

Be open and tolerant to differing viewpoints, embrace diversity, and communicate with everyone with equal respect, regardless of their position in the organization.

Continuous Development

Be committed to learning and helping others learn. Contribute to personal development by receiving feedback and contribute to the development of others by giving constructive feedback.

Empathy

Be understanding and non-judgmental in our dealings with students, colleagues, partners, and stakeholders. Listen with curiosity. First seek to understand, then to be understood.

17 Years of Growth and Transformation

2008
Building Bridges Through Leadership (BBLT) program launched in Chattogram
2009
BYLC registered as a non-profit in Bangladesh
2010
Building Bridges Through Leadership Junior (BBLTJ) program launched
2011
First Youth Leadership Summit with 200 delegates
2012
BYLC Graduate Network (BGN) launched for alumni engagement
2012
Art And Practice Of Leadership workshop launched.
2018
First BYLC Running With Purpose held
2020
First cohort of BYLC Ventures selected
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