Sabirul Islam

Sabirul Islam (23), has excelled on a journey towards self-fulfilment whilst making a difference to the lives of a million people on his way to the top.
Sabirul is the founder of the Inspire1Million campaign, a global project to inspire, engage & transform the lives of a million people around the world through a marathon of events focused on teaching youth self-discovery, career prospects and enterprise learning. Sabirul has taken the Inspire1Million now to 26 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Europe, delivering over 800+ events since its launch in Japan back in November 2010.

Sabirul is also editor of a newspaper supplement titled ‘Youth Lane’ focusing on feature stories, that inspire & motivate youth as well as providing career guidance & opportunities outside mainstream education.
Sabirul started his journey as an entrepreneur aged 14, running a web design business for 2 years whilst at school having later decided to venture into stock trading at 16.

Sabirul’s journey took a whole new turn at 17, when he wrote his first book titled ‘The World at Your Feet.’ To inspire youth to prosper through self-belief & follow their passion in life. The book went on to sell 42,500+ copies and was later professionally published by Marshall Cavendish, and now sells globally.
Other ventures which Sabirul has endeavoured on have been the launch of his business board game titled ‘Teen-Trepreneur.’ An enterprise board game & training programme which teaches financial literacy that has now sold to 650+ schools within the UK and with multiple versions developed within 14 countries around the world.

Sabirul is a columnist for international newspapers around the world, including the Prothom Alo, where Sabirul writes features to empower youth in Bangladesh.
Sabirul’s journey has led him to host his own Enterprise TV series in Africa, with new TV shows also set to launch within the UK & also Bangladesh in 2014.

Sabirul achievements and passion to give back to society have landed Sabirul top honours, such as the Growing Up CEO award from Harvard Business School & the JCI Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World award in Japan. An award won on previous occasions by personalities such as John F. Kennedy, Elvis Presley and Jackie Chan.

Now having just turned 23, Sabirul’s passion is to inspire millions of young people around the world, sharing the message that ‘money isn’t all too difficult to make in modern day society. The real challenge is to be able to make a difference.’ Encouraging people to believe in living a life with purpose, meaning and valuing ‘legacy.’

Awards won by Sabirul

 Young Company of the Year 2004
 Best Presentation of the Year 2004
 Most Enterprising Young Student of the Year 2005
 Growing Up CEO 2008
 Outstanding Young Achiever 2008
 Mosaic Entrepreneur of the Year 2008
 Striding Out Future 100 Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2009
 JA-YE Top 20 Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2010
 JCI 10 Outstanding Young Person’s the of World 2010

UK Testimonials

“Thanks Mr Islam for your inspiring speech today, you have really motivated me to reach my full potential….. and like you, I would really like to help the youth and to help them realise that anything’s possible. Thanks again!”

“I loved the talk you gave for the LiC Nepal Exchange Programme. Truly inspiring!” Peter Hoang, LiC

“You sure did inspire me! Enough to chase after my dreams…thanks”

“The response from the audience shows high level of appreciation for your address which was exceptionally engaging, passionate and inspiring and for your contribution to the question and answers session which proved very successful and for the event overall. I must say that I personally also enjoyed your talk and same can said having worked with a whole team of professionals who were exceptionally enthused.  I felt that the participants engaged well with the debate and the speakers on a highly topical day and I sensed that it created and deepened quite a lot of networking and contacts too.” – Joanne Allman, National Training Resouces

“From the first time I met Sabirul I knew I was in the company of a young man who was going to be very successful very quickly. His personal story, energy, and determination are not only an inspiration to other young people, but also to established business professionals, a story that needs be told around the world. As a speaker I have seen his confidence and delivery grow over time, always succeeding to get his message across to the audience.  His self-belief and resourcefulness, together with the support from his family, enabled him to achieve many of his goals at a young age. But to those who have had the pleasure of meeting him, we all know that he will continue to achieve bigger and better things. Can’t wait to find out what!” – Marco van den Heuvel, JCI
“Thank you for speaking at Youth Leadership Summit ♥ You Rock!” – Rachel Leigh, Youth Leadership Summit

Botswana Testimonials

Following the success of the inspire1million campaign in Botswana,

on behalf of JCI Gaborone and the Botswana National Youth Council (BNYC), I wish extend my heartfelt thank you to you for inspiring close to 200, 000 young Batswana during the 14 day Inspire1million campaign in Botswana. The skills and knowledge you imparted into both the youths and leaders of this country will go a long way in building strong networks and forging long sustainable relationships to create positive change. JCI Gaborone will like to work with you in future endeavours aimed at contributing towards the sustainable growth of our nation.  Re a leboga, le ka moso (We Thank You, so much) – Mokgethi Nyatseng, JCI Gabarone President 2010

“I’d like to say thank you very much for coming to Botswana, it was highly appreciated. You have inspired a lot of people, especially the youth to get into entrepreneurship. your story made me believe that people posses a very strong power of making anything happen, as long as they are determined to do it. So I am a young Motswana who would really like to be an entrepreneur and change people’s lives like you do.”

“We salute your coming to Botswana because you left a true sense of inspiration. We’d like to follow in your footsteps as two 17 yr old girls who are interested in entrepreneurship. Your project to inspire youth will always be appreciated, thank you and please come again!”

“OMG…!!! I’ve yet to read your book…but OMG…you are just a big inspiration. Even though I didn’t meet you, from the way my mother described you, I am just speechless.”

South Africa Testimonials:

Just like to say you are truly an inspiration to many and your speech was amazing!!!…

Standing ovation! Read about you on News24 via Entrepreneur Magazine. I thought I am the only one who has this dream; however you realized it. You have just motivated me to keep going. 19 years of age one year to go for me.

“Your speech was awesome please come back to South Africa!”

Belgium Testimonials:

Sabirul was indeed fantastic during the panel debate and I was impressed that the Princess took the microphone to express her opinion and to say some good words about the importance of youth entrepreneurship, which Sabirul had expressed. – Kristina Velkovska – JA-YE
Warmest thanks for your active participation in the “Create your job” space at the European Job Day and also for having suggested such a charismatic and inspiring young man as Sabirul to take part in the round-table on Saturday morning! As I said this is the beginning of a common endeavour! – Brigitte Degen – European Commission

“I’d like to say thank you very much for coming to Botswana, it was highly appreciated. You have inspired a lot of people, especially the youth to get into entrepreneurship. your story made me believe that people posses a very strong power of making anything happen, as long as they are determined to do it. So I am a young Motswana who would really like to be an entrepreneur and change people’s lives like you do.”

“We salute your coming to Botswana because you left a true sense of inspiration. We’d like to follow in your footsteps as two 17 yr old girls who are interested in entrepreneurship. Your project to inspire youth will always be appreciated, thank you and please come again!”

“OMG…!!! I’ve yet to read your book…but OMG…you are just a big inspiration. Even though I didn’t meet you, from the way my mother described you, I am just speechless.”

South Africa Testimonials:

Just like to say you are truly an inspiration to many and your speech was amazing!!!…

Standing ovation! Read about you on News24 via Entrepreneur Magazine. I thought I am the only one who has this dream; however you realized it. You have just motivated me to keep going. 19 years of age one year to go for me.
“Your speech was awesome please come back to South Africa!”

Belgium Testimonials:

Sabirul was indeed fantastic during the panel debate and I was impressed that the Princess took the microphone to express her opinion and to say some good words about the importance of youth entrepreneurship, which Sabirul had expressed. – Kristina Velkovska – JA-YE
Warmest thanks for your active participation in the “Create your job” space at the European Job Day and also for having suggested such a charismatic and inspiring young man as Sabirul to take part in the round-table on Saturday morning! As I said this is the beginning of a common endeavour! – Brigitte Degen – European Commission