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4 June 2026

BeChangeMaker 2026: Top 15 teams progress to next phase

Participants in this year’s edition of our social entrepreneurship programme are developing their social business ideas in preparation for their second pitch.

The 30 teams participating in this year’s BeChangeMaker delivered their first pitches on 18 and 19 May. Showcasing the power of young people to find effective solutions to humanity’s most pressing problems, the top 15 social business ideas were selected to advance to the second phase of the programme.

Celebrating its landmark 10th edition, BeChangeMaker is a social business accelerator, brought together by WorldSkills and the HP Foundation, and supported by UNESCO-UNEVOC. The programme has over the years increased its reach and popularity, having helped hundreds of young people from across the globe to apply their skills to tackle social and environmental challenges and advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The selected teams will now continue their self-learning, coaching, and mentoring sessions. They will participate in one more progress session before the second online pitch on 2 June. The top five teams will travel to Shanghai for the pitch finale as part of WorldSkills Conference 2026.

“Ten years ago, BeChangeMaker was created with the belief that young people, equipped with the right skills and support, could build businesses that genuinely change lives. What we see year after year is that they can, and they do. This cohort is no exception. The quality of ideas coming through is remarkable, but so is the commitment it takes to get here. The journey from first to final pitch is not easy, and that challenge is exactly the point,” said Oliver Dubois du Bellay, Partnership Programmes Manager at WorldSkills.

The top 15 teams selected to advance towards the second pitch are:

  1. Live Your Blueprint, Indonesia – Transforming disengaged youth into self-directed, resilient individuals
  2. GL SocialGrid, Brazil – Building decentralized self-sustaining energy for resilient communities
  3. GIGIs, Brazil – Providing safe drinking water through solar-powered solutions
  4. Nhangarekó, Brazil – Empowering citizens to grow resilient, nutrient-rich plants at home
  5. Visionaryth, Canada – Preventing myopia by building healthy screen habits for youth
  6. Polaris Safety, China – Providing AI-powered personal safety infrastructure software for women
  7. Empals, India – Providing early, accessible support for children with ADHD, dyslexia, and autism
  8. Ridan AI, India – Breaking social media addiction in children with behavioural AI
  9. Vivian, Mexico – Ensuring inclusion through an AI digital interpreter for Mexican sign language
  10. Hydrosyne, Namibia – Bringing AI-driven solutions to the global water crisis
  11. Ruruka, Paraguay – Transforming industrial sludge into sustainable construction materials
  12. SkillSeed Impact Team, Rwanda – Turning untapped talent into future-ready young people with AI-guided exposure and insight
  13. Ibexenlace, South Africa – Connecting young people to green and critical mineral jobs with practical training
  14. Elzian Agro, Sri Lanka – Empowering small-scale farmers with real-time monitoring and optimized water management
  15. Zonr, Chinese Taipei – Bridging the global skills gap with AI-powered, personalized learning support

The BeChangeMaker partner network includes PEN WorldWide, UNIDO, World YMCA, and the Yunus Environment Hub.

Follow the teams as they make their journey to Shanghai, China.