Akarsh Shroff

About

Young Changemaker, Ashoka

Akarsh Shroff is a Young Changemaker and the founder of YuvaSpark, a child-welfare & education-focused nonprofit organisation. Akarsh is committed to improving foundational literacy for underserved children and children with special needs. Akarsh founded his organization as a 17-year-old class-12 student in 2018. Over the last 6 years, his organization has impacted 346,000+ lives across 10+ states by engaging 600+ volunteers from 35+ institutions. They are digitising Early Childhood Education at Anganwadi centres and improving infrastructure at orphanages through partnerships with state and district administrative bodies. Their work has been covered by media organisations like Times of India, The Hindu, Indian Express, Deccan Herald, etc. For his grassroots social impact, Akarsh received an award from the UN, was selected as a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Goalkeeper, has been appreciated by the British Deputy High Commissioner to India, and has been included in YourStory's 10 inspiring nonprofit stories. Akarsh has also been featured in the Forbes 30 U 30 Asia list 2023 in the social impact category. In his full time role, Akarsh is a project lead at Thinkerbell Labs, a social enterprise which has developed Annie - the world's first self-learning braille literacy device for visually impaired children. He oversees partnerships, strategy, and program design across 20+ states in India. His work to improve quality of foundational literacy for visually impaired children has gained appreciation from the chief ministers of Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh.

[Day 1]

12.20 - 1.30 PM

Theme: Fueling the Next Generation: Mentorship as a Catalyst for Youth Changemaking and Innovation