Glovatrix from India wins BeChangeMaker 2025

Months of learning, collaboration, and online pitching culminated today as the five BeChangeMaker 2025 finalists presented their business ideas to a global audience. Amidst much anticipation, Glovatrix emerged as the winner, celebrated for their creativity and vision for a more inclusive world.

Over 200 people at WorldSkills Croatia Conference 2025 witnessed how young people – equipped with the right skills and opportunities – can inspire action and advance sustainable change. The audience comprised WorldSkills General Assembly delegates, global leaders in skills development, and skills practitioners from Croatia and beyond.

Coming from Denmark, India, Indonesia, Canada, and Nepal, the five teams of young social innovators arrived a few days earlier in Dubrovnik, Croatia, for a bootcamp designed to help them connect and refine their presentations. On the global stage today, they demonstrated how their projects are not only sustainable, but also capable of creating lasting, positive impact within their communities. Each team had five minutes to present, followed by questions from a panel of judges.

Glovatrix stood out among the impressive field of finalists. Led by Aishwarya Karnataki and Rudra Ghodke, Glovatrix is a smart AI-based glove that translates sign language into speech, and speech into text, in real time allowing the deaf person to see exactly what they are communicating.

Aishwarya was thrilled to win this year’s edition of our startup accelerator programme, saying, “It has been a rollercoaster of emotions, but we are feeling so thrilled to have won. We have already made a great network of contacts and organizations that support skills for those with disabilities so that we can take our product to the next level.”

Second place went to ReGen from Nepal for their innovative approach to disaster relief for children, followed by PaperPods from Indonesia who had a sustainable solution to paper manufacturing.

The final results are:

1. Glovatrix, India
2. ReGen, Nepal
3. PaperPods, Indonesia
4. AstMask, Denmark
5. Youth Re:Linked, Canada

Each team is awarded EUR 1,000 in post-programme coaching support, with the three highest-ranking teams receiving an additional EUR 2,000 to build on their concepts.

Find out more about all the finalists teams and their innovations.

Powered by WorldSkills and the HP Foundation, BeChangeMaker is supported by UNESCO-UNEVOC, UNIDO, PEN Worldwide, and the Yunus Environment Hub, helping young people develop innovative business ideas that address social and environmental challenges. This year the programme received more than 1,100 applications from 117 countries.

Oliver Dubois du Bellay, Partnership Programmes Manager said, “This has been a phenomenal year for BeChangeMaker. Our congratulations go to Glovatrix for a stellar presentation. All our finalists should feel incredibly proud of what they have achieved today and over the last few months. We wish them all the very best for their future endeavours and will follow their journeys closely.”

Learn more about BeChangeMaker.