Rubbish

Alondra Fraustro should be on the Future Minds Under 35 list due to her impactful work with her startup, Ciencia Mágica. Through Ciencia Mágica, over 30,000 individuals have directly benefited from initiatives focused on science and environmental education. This includes children and young people in Mexico who have gained invaluable knowledge and skills in these crucial areas.

Ciencia Mágica provides significant support by offering guidance on practical sustainable practices. Beneficiaries learn how to cultivate their own food, implement recycling programs, and adopt other eco-friendly habits that enable them to actively contribute to environmental care. Furthermore, they develop skills to produce their own ecological products, directly contributing to the reduction of their carbon footprint.

A key component of Ciencia Mágica's impact is the distribution of environmental education kits. These kits have empowered individuals to learn how to start gardens from scratch and build biofilters for water reuse. The tangible nature of these resources fosters hands-on learning and encourages active engagement with environmental stewardship.

The initial success of Ciencia Mágica was significantly bolstered by a 2021 funding through Vital Voices and P&G, which enabled the production of the first 200 environmental education kits. Additionally, a social impact grant from the Rajendra Foundation facilitated the implementation of STEAM workshops in underserved schools across Mexico. These workshops have been instrumental in inspiring young boys and girls to engage with and learn about science, laying the foundation for a future generation of environmentally conscious and scientifically literate individuals.

Alondra Fraustro should undoubtedly be included in the Future Minds Under 35 list, not only for the impactful work of Ciencia Mágica, but also due to her significant prior recognition. She was honored as a UNCCD Land Hero in 2020 and recognized as a Young Champion Defender of the Climate in Belo Horizonte, Brazil 2025. These accolades underscore her exceptional leadership and unwavering commitment to environmental stewardship, further highlighting her impressive trajectory and dedication to creating a sustainable future.

I started Embrace Her after visiting Mai Am Tam Duc, a shelter in Vietnam. When I saw girls full of potential being held back by a lack of necessities, I knew I wanted to do something.

I began by focusing on three core goals: making education, healthcare, and sanitary products more accessible. What started as a small project to support the girls at that shelter has now reached 70,000+ individuals, with 9,000+ girls supported and motivated through initiatives like tutoring, English lessons, book and clothing donations, insurance support, and menstrual product drives.

I’ve worked alongside over 200 youth volunteers, growing 18 chapters across 11 countries, and together we’ve raised over $7,000 in funding and in-kind donations. I’ve learned how to lead with empathy, and I continue to learn every day—through mistakes, through listening, and through connecting with females from all backgrounds.

One of my most memorable project was raising $800 for a girl in the mountain region of Kon Tum, Vietnam, to cover urgent medical costs. What stayed with me was her saying she didn’t just feel helped—she felt heard. She told me she felt like she had an older sister cheering her on. That moment made me realize we’re not just meeting physical needs—we’re also showing care, which can be just as powerful.

For the members of Embrace Her—our “Embracers”—this journey means far more than volunteer work. We’ve built a community where they can uplift other girls and discover the strength of our voices. Through this work, I’ve heard stories of inequality in places I’ve never even been, and I’ve learned how much it matters to simply listen.

Leadership, to me, isn’t always loud. Sometimes, it’s sitting in a circle and telling a girl, “You matter. You’re not alone.” I believe I belong on the Future Minds Under 35 list because I want to use this platform to amplify voices that often go unheard. When we support each other, we build the future together—and I’m proud to be a part of that.

Beniamin is one of the most widely recognised and influencial young leaders in international climate and energy diplomacy. He joined the Global Renewables Alliance, an organisation representing the unified voice of the renewable energy industry, as one of the first employees and he was pivotal to organisation’s campaign that resulted in adoption of the landmark tripling renewables target at COP28 in Dubai.

Beniamin led strategy and partnerships for the 2024 Global Renewables Summit, the first-ever convening of heads of state and ministers that discussed efforts for scaling up renewable energy technologies. The event organised in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies, the European Commission, Kenya, Barbados and 25 top global energy companies featured numerous new pledges and announcements: UK government’s financial commitment to the Green Grids Initiative; launch of 3 new reports by IRENA, BloombergNEF and Climate Analytics; and plan from global utilities to collectively invest over $116 billion annually in clean infrastructure.

He was the co-founder of the SDG 7 Youth Constituency, an international network of young professionals in energy sector that in two years grew to 1,200 members and total reach of the network exceeded 50,000 people. In this role, he advocated for more youth participation in legislation and decision-making, which resulted in funded participation of 15+ young people in COPs and other UN conferences, creation of 10+ paid consultancy positions for youth across the UN system, and establishment of youth councils at IRENA and several UN agencies.

Beniamin also led organisation of Student Energy Summit 2023, the world’s largest youth-led conference on energy transition that brought together 600 youth from 130 countries in the margins of COP28. Over the course of three days, the event engaged more than 100 speakers, including 13 current and former ministers. More than 20,000 youth engaged in virtual activities and $10,000 was disbursed as grants to seed fund initiatives pitched at the summit.

Beniamin’s thought leadership and policy impact has been recognised by the United Nations, where he serves as the Youth Climate Advisor to the UN Secretary-General, and numerous other agencies and organisations, where he serves as youth council member or ambassador, including the European Commission and IRENA.

Why does this nominee belong on the Future Minds Under 35 list? Be specific.

I’m Anjani Sharma, an 18-year-old mental health advocate and the founder of Minds Without Borders, a youth-led nonprofit I started when I was just 15 after losing someone close to suicide and facing my own mental health battles. I grew up witnessing the silence around mental health—especially in marginalized communities—and I couldn’t stay quiet.

Since founding the organization, we’ve reached over 2,500 students globally through education, policy, and direct outreach. In the slums of Dharavi, India, I led on-the-ground campaigns distributing 300+ culturally relevant self-care kits and hosted workshops with local volunteers, where children learned about emotional hygiene for the first time. In Nigeria, our team partnered with youth leaders to deliver mental health resources to underserved schools—helping young people feel seen and supported in a system that often overlooks them.

In the United States, I’ve trained and mobilized students to lobby for mental health policies, organizing youth advocacy trips to Tallahassee and Washington, D.C. I currently serve as a University of Florida student senator, fighting to improve campus resources and push forward system-wide surveys and reforms. Through it all, we've raised over $10,000 to fund our grassroots work.

Minds Without Borders was never just an organization to me—it was a lifeline. A way to rewrite the narrative for youth like me who grew up believing that silence was strength. Every story we hear, every community we empower, is a reminder that young people—especially those most often unheard—deserve better.

I am a young climate expert with a PhD in carbon capture, who cofounded Mission Zero Technologies in 2020 to develop and scale technologies for recovering atmospheric carbon emissions via Direct Air Capture (DAC). In the past 5 years, we have raised over £30 million from the world's foremost climate funders, companies, and VCs such as Bill Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy Ventures, 2150, Anglo American, Fortescue, Siemens, and World Fund, and our tech has gone from ideation to live £MM commercial deployments in Europe and North America, already pulling out hundreds of tons of CO2 from the air to combat climate change. Today, we are the UK's leading company in this space and one of only two globally to have live customer operations in multiple countries.

My cofounders and I are strategically targeting opportunities in high-impact sectors for the circular economy, like aviation and building materials, where alternative technical means of decarbonisation are very costly and need a long time to mature. As a result, our company enables many other key decarbonisation technologies, which rely on accessing sustainable CO2 to replace environmentally harmful processes.

Our commercial projects have been recognised for their social impact; e.g. our flagship UK government project with our partner, O.C.O Technology, will enable production of ultra-low-carbon building materials that could be used for public housing. As another example, in 2022 we were 1 of 15 teams awarded $1 million by the Carbon Removal XPRIZE competition among >1000 entries worldwide, for Project Hajar, aiming to deploy large-scale carbon removal and cogenerate green power for rural communities in the Middle East (the only winning project outside the Western Hemisphere at the time).

In a personal capacity, I also dedicate time towards youth engagement and entrepreneurship in a climate and energy transition context. I have co-organised and/or spoken at two editions of the international Student Energy Summit, organised by the Canadian NGO Student Energy, in London and Abu Dhabi (the world's largest such event, involving >600 young people from >100 countries) alongside COP discussions. In the UK, I have mentored, coached, and delivered workshops for budding student entrepreneurs for the last 3 years at the Imperial College-based Climate Pre-Accelerator involving students from across the UK - here through my involvement I have supported over 30 student teams, several of which have gone on to actually incorporate companies, develop their products, raise initial funding and are tackling a wide range of climate challenges themselves. Some notable examples here are Cyanoskin, Agreka Build, and Ventrix. Alongside, I have given numerous university lectures both about carbon capture as well as entrepreneurship, to ensure the climate changemakers of tomorrow can act on the lessons learnt of today.

In my career so far, I have been humbled to gain recognition from Forbes (30 Under 30 - 2023 - Europe - Social Impact), my alma mater Imperial College London (Emerging Alumni Leader Award, 2025), Meaningful Business (Elected to the #MB100 list in 2024, for leaders combining profit & purpose), and Diversity UK (Named among the Top 100 Asians in UK Tech, 2024). My company has also been recognised by XPRIZE (mentioned earlier), the Europas (Hottest Series A Startup - 2024), the Diamond List (2022), Cleantech Group (50toWatch, 2023), and PwC (Net Zero Future50 list, 2025).

Raihan Karim is the co-founder and CEO of The Legacy Project (TLP), a national education non-profit that has transformed the lives of over 2,000 young people across the UK. His work focuses on students from disadvantaged backgrounds—particularly those in some of the poorest London boroughs—supporting them to access higher education and unlock opportunities they might never have believed possible.

What started during the COVID-19 pandemic as a grassroots initiative providing virtual university application support has grown into a nationally recognised organisation. Through TLP, Raihan has helped hundreds of students gain university places by offering free personal statement reviews, mentorship schemes, and bespoke guidance from current undergraduates in students’ chosen fields. This 1-to-1 support model ensures each student gets tailored, relevant advice—something often missing in underfunded schools.

Raihan’s reach extends beyond students. He currently advises schools—particularly those serving low socio-economic communities—on careers and academic strategy, designing and delivering year-long programmes of support tailored to their students’ aspirations. These structured interventions bridge the gap between potential and opportunity, providing consistent, sustained guidance rather than one-off advice.

He has successfully raised funding through crowdfunding and grant applications, allowing all of TLP’s programmes to remain completely free. This ensures that cost is never a barrier to access.

One of Raihan’s most impactful initiatives is TLP’s Oxbridge Preparedness Programme. In its pilot year, over 70% of participants secured offers to Oxford or Cambridge—an extraordinary achievement, especially considering the structural barriers these students face. The programme provided rigorous, personalised support, including interview prep, subject-specific mentoring, and confidence-building workshops.

Raihan’s contributions have been recognised nationally. He is a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Point of Light Award and The Diana Award, honours which reflect not only his dedication but the tangible, life-changing impact of his work.