How Nafira earned a place on Forbes 30 Under 30

Sketch: TBS

At an age when many people are unsure of what they want to do in life, Nafira Nayeem Ahmed was already turning her passion into action.

The founder of Amplitude and a student of the Economics and Social Sciences Department at BRAC University, Nafira has earned a place in the prestigious Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2026 list under the Social Impact category, becoming one of the youngest Bangladeshis to have received the recognition.

Driven by a vision to create opportunities for underserved and marginalised communities, Nafira founded Amplitude in 2019 at the age of 16. What began as a youthful aspiration has since evolved into a nationwide platform that has impacted the lives of more than 98,000 people through various social, educational, and humanitarian initiatives.

Seeing the other side

According to Nafira, she grew up with a lot of privilege, and for a long time, she was simply unaware of how differently others lived. Her parents, however, always made a point of making her conscious of that privilege, but it did not fully register until she started going out on her own for tuitions during O Levels. That was when she first truly saw the gap: who gets to make the rules and who ends up paying the cost.

Over time, Nafira began to understand that the root of so much of this inequality is a lack of education. Not just academic education, but the kind that goes beyond it.

"Sex education, ethics, basic awareness of one's own rights. These were things people around me were being denied entirely."

That inspired Nafira at sixteen and then she started Amplitude as a way to give back to people who are just as much a part of this society as anyone else.

Challenges along the way

Social impact work often comes with emotional and operational challenges. There were two challenges that have consistently been the hardest for Nafira.

The first is imposter syndrome. She never fully felt like she was doing enough. She felt there was so much change still to be made. There were moments where she used to sit back and genuinely felt like a fraud, wondering if she could have done more, done better. Reflection is important, but that kind of self-doubt can be heavy.

The second is funding. When one starts young, people do not take it seriously.

"At 16, trying to run a non-profit, we had strong evidence, we tracked our beneficiaries, we showed results, and still, support was hard to come by. Add to that the reality of living in a patriarchal society, where a young woman asking for resources is often met with dismissal. It was a continuous uphill climb. But I kept going, because the work mattered more than the recognition, and eventually, the results started speaking for themselves."

Amplitude has reportedly reached thousands of people across Bangladesh. Now it has reached over a hundred thousand people, and that is because they always go back to the same communities and then grow from there.

"If I had to choose one initiative I am most proud of, it would be Books Giving, even though all our events hold a very special place for me."

She felt what makes books different is that it lets them take on real responsibility for underserved schools. They do not just donate books but bring in sessions on things like sex education, they provide stationery, and make sure that the support covers an entire school session so that they can return the following year and do it again.

Right now, Amplitude is in the process of finalising partnerships with a school in Lama, Bandarban, and several schools in Khagrachhari. What makes it even more meaningful is that it is people-powered. Privileged people share their privilege with those who rarely receive any.

That cycle of generosity is something Nafira deeply believes in. Being a student while leading a growing platform is, to some extent, challenging in terms of time management, studies, maintaining results, balancing life and so on.

When asked how she managed everything on one screen, being an undergraduate, she said, "It comes down to priorities. My education, my work with Amplitude, and my personal life are all equally important to me. Once you are clear on that, managing them becomes less about perfect balance and more about intentional choices. I may not always be able to give as much time to my personal life as I would like, but I make sure that Amplitude and my academics are never compromised."

Nafira's work earned international recognition through the Millennium Fellowship and the Legacy Award. She expressed in a joyous mood that the Millennium Fellowship was a great experience for her, but it was not necessarily eye-opening. The Legacy Award, however, was genuinely transformative. The sessions, the conversations, the exposure to founders and changemakers from very different contexts taught her something she carries with her till now.

However, she never ran after recognition. Every award or fellowship she received before Forbes was either through an anonymous nomination or someone known nominating her without her knowledge. This was the first time she put herself forward through a self-nomination process in the Forbes 30 Under 30. To her, this felt vulnerable, but also felt right at the same time.

Sustainability as the core of development work

Sustainability is at the centre of everything Nafira designs at Amplitude. Every initiative they run is built to last beyond a single moment.

For Books Giving, they provide donations that cover a full school session, so that they can return the following session and continue. For Benevolence, their clothing drives ensure that what they give lasts at least an entire season. For Khair, their Ramadan grocery run makes sure that the groceries cover the entirety of Ramadan, not just for one day.

"At 16, trying to run a non-profit, we had strong evidence, we tracked our beneficiaries, we showed results, and still, support was hard to come by. Add to that the reality of living in a patriarchal society, where a young woman asking for resources is often met with dismissal. It was a continuous uphill climb. But I kept going, because the work mattered more than the recognition, and eventually, the results started speaking for themselves."

Nafira Nayeem Ahmed, Founder, Amplitude

For rehabilitation work, they go even further, helping rebuild homes, connecting people to income sources, whether that is a small enterprise opportunity, access to tools, or a job connection. Some of their beneficiaries are now volunteering with them or donating back to the organisation.

All this is what real sustainability looks like to Nafira, when the people she serves start sharing their own privilege in return.

Nafira wanted to be on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for as long as she could remember.

"I first started reading about Forbes around 2013, through newspapers and online, and I always looked up to the people on that list. But for the longest time, I did not feel personally connected to the categories, until I found out about the Social Impact category. That was the first time I truly saw myself in it, and from that moment, I just wanted to take a shot."

Speaking on how she works with Amplitude in designing projects, serving, managing teammates, she said, "My best friend, who is also our Vice President, and I always oversee the bigger picture and make sure everything is aligned."

She explained, "One team is always researching topics that are not being discussed enough and creating awareness around them. Others focus on identifying new problems they can address and develop new plans and campaigns."

Looking forward

Nafira's long-term vision for Amplitude and the kind of impact she hopes to leave for future generations is to move beyond Dhaka and reach the communities that are consistently left behind in larger conversations about development.

"I am particularly focused on the Marma and Chakma communities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and on the tea workers of Sylhet," she noted.

What drives this is a very simple injustice: tea workers are paid as little as Tk150 a day, and yet we buy that same tea for far more. That gap is not fair. Nafira's vision is not just to support these communities through donations, but to give them genuine entrepreneurial opportunities so that they can share their talents with the world without being exploited.

"I want to help them build pathways out of systemic underpayment, not just receive aid within it."

Nafira wants Amplitude to be a space where conversations that are considered taboo finally get to breathe. By the time they reach their tenth year, she wants to be able to say Amplitude helped eradicate at least one taboo.

She also wants emotional health to be spoken about openly, for all genders.

"I want men's emotional struggles to be acknowledged just as freely as anyone else's, because gender norms hurt everyone. I want menstruation and feminine hygiene to stop being treated like secrets. These are not shameful topics. They are human ones, and the silence around them costs people their dignity and sometimes their lives," she said.

If Amplitude can leave anything behind for future generations, Nafira wants it to be the proof that sustainable, community-led change is possible, and that it starts with actually believing in the people they are trying to serve, including believing that they deserve to have every part of their humanity spoken about out loud.