BYLC Youth Leadership Summit Is Back!

Jannat Adib Chowdhury

Exactly a year back, I was selected as a delegate to attend the Youth Leadership Summit (YLS) 2011, organised by Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC), the country's first and foremost leadership institute. Today I am working in the same organisation with a renewed passion to promote the same values of inclusiveness, skills of leadership and networking in the next generation. BYLC's annual YLS is back again!

The YLS 2011 was definitely an intense learning experience for me. It was full of interactive sessions, networking opportunities and most importantly inspiring moments. The Summit brought together 200 delegates from different colleges and universities and 50 prominent speakers from home and abroad. The theme for last year's Summit was 'The Role of Courage in Leadership'. The Summit covered a diverse range of panels on topics such as climate change, human rights and ethics, media and journalism, education and career, health, politics and leadership, innovation, courage and liberation war.

Each speaker added a different and intriguing dimension to this whole summit. In a brilliant address, Dr Justine Lee, the Australian High Commissioner said how in a world that is changing at an increasing pace, one needs to be flexible, and the youths are in an advantageous position here as their views are not blocked by the status quo. Fahim Mashroor, the CEO of bdjobs.com, stimulated us to think about our choices regarding career from a global context. We learned that leadership cannot only be exercised from an authority; it can also be transformed from an individual level - who can take the initiative to do things another way.

Building on the success of last year's YLS, BYLC will organise its second Summit in Dhaka from April 26-28, 2012 at Bangabandhu International Conference Center. The theme of this year's summit is “Leading Bangladesh into the Future: A Journey of Exploration.” By becoming a delegate in this summit, one will have the opportunity of knowledge sharing and networking with 50 distinguished national and international speakers and 450 delegates from all over Bangladesh. The key attraction of the Summit will be four exclusive sessions on leadership which will be conducted by MIT faculty Joe Hsueh (PhD, MIT Sloan School of Management) and City Year Director of Leadership Development Max Klau (PhD, Harvard). The admission for Youth Leadership Summit 2012 is now open! To apply please visit www.bylc.org/ summit2012

It is often thought that leadership is something that we are born with; it cannot be learned. But, I truly believe by utilizing the leadership opportunities that emerge around us, one can discover the leader underneath. Certainly, by attending last year's summit, I believe I am one step ahead in the quest of finding the leader within myself. Don't miss out on this lifetime opportunity!