Runa Khan (born 17 November 1958) is a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur,"Can business and social change be compatible?" The Daily Star. Retrieved 2026-08-31. humanitarian, and author. She is the founder and executive director of Friendship, a social purpose organisation that delivers integrated healthcare, education, disaster response, and livelihood services to climate-affected and remote communities across Bangladesh.Brinded, Lianna. "This social entrepreneur told us why businesses should see charities as service providers". Business Insider. Retrieved 2026-08-31.FR (2016-05-16). "New models of working and partnership in development: the example of Friendship, a Bangladeshi organisation - Alternatives Humanitaires". National Geographic. Retrieved 2026-08-31. In November 2025, Friendship won The Earthshot Prize in the “Fix Our Climate” category—the first time a Bangladeshi organisation has received the award."Friendship 2025 Winner". The Earthshot Prize. Retrieved 2026-08-31."Friendship wins global Earthshot Prize 2025 for climate action | News". BSS. Retrieved 2026-08-31."Bangladesh shines on global stage as Friendship wins prestigious Earthshot Prize 2025". Prothomalo. 2025-11-07. Retrieved 2026-08-31."Earthshot Win". Friendship NGO. Retrieved 2026-08-31. In 2026, Khan received The Ramon Magsaysay Award for her decades of service to remote, river-eroded, and climate-vulnerable communities in Bangladesh."Khan, Runa". Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation Philippines. Retrieved 2026-08-31."Friendship's Runa Khan gets Ramon Magsaysay Award". The Daily Star. 31 August 2026. Retrieved 2026-08-31."Friendship founder Runa Khan wins 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Award". The Climate Watch. 2026-08-31. Retrieved 2026-08-31.Channel 24 (2026-08-31). এশিয়ার নোবেল খ্যাত ‘ম্যাগসাইসাই পুরস্কার’ জয় করলেন রুনা খান | Ramon Magsaysay Award | Channel 24. Retrieved 2026-08-31 – via YouTube.
Khan is known for an integrated model of development that treats health, education, disaster management, livelihoods, justice, and cultural preservation as interconnected rather than as separate problems to be solved one at a time.Strauss, Gary (18 September 2013). "Anchoring Bangladesh's Ancient Boatbuilding Technology". National Geographic. Retrieved 31 August 2026."Runa Khan". Rolex Awards for Enterprise. Retrieved 31 August 2026. Since Friendship's founding in 2002,Unilever. "Discover | Stories | Lifebuoy turns 130 | Unilever Archives". archives-unilever.com. Retrieved 2026-08-31. the organisation has reached more than 75 million people, including some 7.5 million climate migrants it serves annually"Friendship receives Superbrands award". Prothomalo. 2023-02-12. Retrieved 2026-08-31. structured around what it describes as four interdependent commitments: saving lives,"Hospital boats bring healthcare to Bangladesh's isolated communities". Reuters. 6 February 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2026."Floating Health Care: Runa Khan has a Simple Solution to Bangladeshi Development". HuffPost. 2013-03-22. Retrieved 2026-08-31.Begum, Thaslima (2023-05-04). "'Peace of mind at last': the Bangladeshi villagers digging their way out of the floods". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-08-31.Sajib, Md Refat Uz Zaman; Hasan, Kamrul. "Reaching the unreachable: a mixed-method evaluation of multidimensional healthcare model addressing the healthcare service gaps in hard-to-reach Northern riverine Bangladesh". Archives of Public Health. 2025. doi:10.1186/s13690-025-01592-6. climate adaptation,valerie (2021-12-09). "Friendship NGO at the forefront of the fight against climate change". MMM. Retrieved 2026-08-31."Khan, Runa". Club of Rome. Retrieved 2026-08-31. poverty alleviation, and empowerment.
Khan is a member of the Club of Rome, honorary president of the One Sustainable Health Forum approach,"OSH Forum". One Sustainable Health (in French). Retrieved 2026-08-31.Gardette, Sophie (2021-09-10). "Interview with Runa Khan, founder of the NGO Friendship and honorary president of the "One Sustainable Health Forum"". Initiatives pour l'Avenir des Grands Fleuves. Retrieved 2026-08-31. country chair and a board member of Global Dignity,"Board of Directors". Global Dignity. Retrieved 2026-08-31."Bangladesh". Global Dignity. Retrieved 2026-08-31. and a jury member for the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity."Jury". Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. Retrieved 2026-08-31. She was named an Ashoka Fellow in 1994,"Runa Khan". Ashoka. Retrieved 2026-09-01. received the Rolex Award for Enterprise in 2006, the Islamic Development Bank's award for women's contribution to development in 2008,"Islamic Development Bank Annual Report 2008" (PDF). Islamic Development Bank. 2008. Retrieved 31 August 2026. and the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneur award in 2012,"Runa Khan". World Economic Forum. World Economic Forum. Retrieved 31 August 2026. among other honours.
Before founding Friendship, Khan worked in tourism,"Call of the rivers". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2026-08-31."Contic". Contic. Retrieved 31 August 2026. textiles, and publishing. She has since spoken at venues including INSEAD,Source. INSEAD (2012-08-02). Social entrepreneur Runa Khan on helping Bangladesh's poor. Retrieved 2026-08-31 – via YouTube.Bray, Nicholas (2011-10-25). "From poverty to entrepreneurship". INSEAD Knowledge. Retrieved 2026-08-31. LMU Munich, and the Collège de France, and is the author of eight books, including six works on early-childhood pedagogy Source. Khan, Runa (2018). Play School Workbook 1st step. The University Press Limited. . Retrieved 1 September 2026.Source. Khan, Runa (2013). Play School Workbook 4th step. The University Press Limited. . Retrieved 1 September 2026.Source. Khan, Runa (2010). Early Learning Series Book 2. The University Press Limited. . Retrieved 1 September 2026.Source. Doja, Runa (2017). Early Learning Series Book 1. The University Press Limited. . Retrieved 1 September 2026. and two collections of Bangladeshi folk tales.Source. Marre, Runa Khan (2000). Rani Kanchan Mala and other stories: fairy tales from Bangladesh. Dhaka: University Press. . .Source. Marre, Runa Khan (2000). The flower maiden and other stories: fairy tales from Bangladesh. Dhaka: University Press. . .
Early life and education
Khan was born on 17 November 1958 into a Bengali family descended from the zamindars of Bengal; her mother's family traced its lineage to the Karranis, the last dynasty of the sixteenth-century Bengal Sultanate. She grew up in a culturally diverse household—her father, Alim Khan, regularly hosted global thinkers, musicians, Zen monks, Hindu priests, Taizé Brothers, and ambassadors, drawing her into wide-ranging discussions on music and philosophy from an early age.
She attended Farmview International School in what was then East Pakistan, and later St. Denys High School in Murree, before earning a BA with honours in geography from Lady Brabourne College, Kolkata, and a second BA in humanities from Eden Mohila College, Dhaka. Decades later, as a working executive, she returned to formal study, completing the Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management programme at Harvard Business School in 2013 and the Leadership for System Change programme at the Harvard Kennedy School in 2018.
Philosophy and Approach
Khan has described her approach to development as values-driven rather than project-driven."A values-based philosophy for social change: Runa Khan". Ashoka. Retrieved 1 September 2026."Runa Khan". Inspirators. Retrieved 2026-09-01. In a 2020 interview with Ashoka, she stated that her goal was never to build a large organisation, but to offer effective, direct assistance where it was needed—explaining that Friendship grew out of responding directly to what local communities said they required, rather than implementing a pre-set top-down programme. She has framed the organisation's core values as integrity, dignity, justice, quality, and hope, emphasizing that its strength lies in sustained, long-term relationships with communities rather than short-term project cycles.
“People can live with poverty, but they cannot live without dignity and hope. Much of our work is designed to restore agency and self-respect rather than simply deliver aid.”
— Runa Khan, Interview with Dhaka Tribune (2018) "People can live with poverty, but they cannot live without dignity and hope". Dhaka Tribune. Retrieved 2026-09-01.
Dignity is a central theme in her public statements and philosophical framing. She has argued that while poverty is survivable, the erosion of human dignity and hope is destructive, positioning Friendship's healthcare, education, and livelihood interventions as mechanisms to restore agency and self-respect. In a 2023 interview with Initiatives pour l'Avenir des Grands Fleuves, she noted that Friendship's two-decade presence in local communities grants the organisation genuine standing to represent community interests in international policy discussions, rather than speaking on their behalf from a distance. Accepting The Earthshot Prize in November 2025, she dedicated the recognition to the resilience and strength of the climate-vulnerable communities Friendship serves.
Career Early career
Khan's work in social enterprise predates Friendship by more than a decade. In 1988, she opened a boutique to provide work for Bihari and indigenous Bangladeshi artisans—an early initiative in sustainable livelihoods for marginalised communities that she later expanded into Mearee, a Dhaka boutique supporting indigenous craftspeople and widening markets for ethnic crafts. She joined her family's printing business in 1992 and founded a security company in 1995. Working in tourism, she co-founded Contic, offering cruises on renovated traditional wooden boats—an enterprise that connected directly to Friendship's later cultural preservation work in saving Bangladesh's boat-building heritage.
Founding Friendship (2002–2003)
In 2002, Khan founded Friendship, launching the Lifebuoy Friendship Hospital—a river barge converted into a floating hospital serving remote riverine communities—with Yves Marre as advisor and support from Unilever. The following year, the organisation introduced satellite clinics to extend healthcare into Kurigram and Gaibandha, and began systematic work preserving Bangladesh's 3,000-year-old tradition of wooden boat building.
Expansion (2004–2008)
Friendship's model expanded rapidly through the mid-2000s. In 2004, the organisation constructed its first elevated flood shelter, or plinth, and took part in that year's national flood response, alongside hosting the first national exhibition on the boats of Bengal. A Farmer and Fisherman Training Programme followed in 2005, aimed at building sustainable livelihoods for communities receiving healthcare through Friendship. In 2006, responding to community demand for education on the river islands (chars), Friendship developed a primary school model that trained local community members to teach children in their own villages, and introduced Friendship Community MedicAids (FCMs) to deliver healthcare directly to households. That year, Khan received the Rolex Award for Enterprise for her work preserving wooden boat-building heritage, and Friendship International was established, with Friendship Luxembourg as its first international entity.
The organisation's disaster response and healthcare work deepened following Cyclone Sidr in 2007, prompting Friendship to open women-only adult literacy centres and establish Friendship Netherlands. A second hospital ship, the Emirates Friendship Hospital, joined the fleet in 2008 with support from the Emirates Foundation, and Friendship hosted its first international exhibition on Bengal boats in Paris. Khan was awarded the Islamic Development Bank's award for women's contribution to development that same year.
Diversification (2009–2016)