LEADING THE YOUTH
When we talk about youth leadership, one of the first names to enter the mind is of Ejaj Ahmed. Founder of Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC), Ejaj has contributed a lot by training and motivating the young generation of our country to take the lead. So far, Ejaj has trained more than 500 students from various high schools, colleges and universities. The leadership boot camp and summit organised by his center are two of the most popular youth-engaging events of our country. Recently, Ejaj served as the principal consultant for writing the National Youth Policy and Action Plan with the collaboration of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and Commonwealth Secretariat.
"I grew up in house full of management books as my father was a Professor at IBA, Dhaka University. One can say my fascination towards management and leadership grew from there," says Ejaj Ahmed. During his teenage years Ejaj was heavily involved in community service and social projects through his father's Rotary Club.
At the age of 17, Ejaj started applying for universities abroad. "One of the reasons I chose St. Andrews University to do my Bachelors in Economics was because they had one of the oldest debating chambers in the world. The university itself was 600 years old," he says. In St. Andrews, Ejaj was very involved in student politics. He was elected office in the student union and in his final year he ran to become the first non-white president of the St. Andrews Union.
After coming back to Bangladesh in 2003, Ejaj worked for three years as an economist. Around 2006, he went to do his Masters in Public Policy at Harvard University.
"At Harvard, I studied leadership with some of the best minds in the field, and they reinforced in me the idea that leadership is not the same as authority," says Ejaj. "I learned that ordinary people like you and me can become leaders when we have the ability to exercise courage, competence, and compassion."
Ejaj Ahmed established BYLC to provide world class leadership training to the youth of our country. It is the first organisation in the country that brings together English, Bangla, and Madrasa medium students on a common platform. "This work is critical for the future of Bangladesh because we need inclusive and collaborative leadership in our society," he says, "Many of the tensions and conflicts we see in society are due to intolerance towards different beliefs and ideologies. BYLC is trying to foster a sense of unity and common understanding among the Bangladeshi youth," says Ejaj.
A role model to the youth, Ejaj's advice is, "always look out for opportunities that will help you develop your leadership skills. GPA 5 is not enough to be successful in your career. You need strong critical thinking, teamwork, communication skills to excel in the real world and it is only by participating actively in extra-curricular activities during your school, college and university years that you can harness these skills."
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