Ashoka’s Young Changemakers 2022

Benjamin is a 24 year old who founded Viral Vegans, a community of animal right activists. The initiative was launched in 2021 when Benjamin camped in front of the Itis shopping mall to be the first customer in the new KFC and decline a free bucket of chicken.

The initiative focuses on promoting vegan lifestyles and animal rights, inviting people to join their community of activists. Benjamin and Viral Vegans have shown an excellent understanding of messaging and communicating to a large audience. The initiative gathered a large following immediately after its launch and has attracted media attention even with being started recently and out of nothing.

Benjamin and the Viral Vegans have created a benchmark for activists everywhere on how to reach an audience and create an out sized impact by simply having a compelling message and communicating it in an effective way.

“I’ve received many messages where people have said that my actions have been meaningful. Many individuals have even turned vegan or are in the process of becoming vegan because of my activism. There has been a shift in the animal rights scene as Viral Vegans has brought new insights in defending animal rights. We make veganism and defending animal rights relevant and cool."

Read more about Viral Vegans: https://www.viralvegans.fi/

Nermin Karaoglan is a 19 year old changemaker and the Co-founder of Suomen Kulttuurienvälinen Yhteisö (SKY) Nuoriso (Finnish Intercultural Community), a Working Group (WG) under the civil society organization ‘Fin Polar Kulttuurikeskus ry’, which aims to advance the capacity of a society to ensure the well-being of all its members, minimizing disparities and avoiding marginalization, by developing a community of shared values, shared challenges, and equal opportunity within Finland.

Nermin initiated SKY Nuoriso in 2022 to help youth living in Finland between 17-25 years old (primarily with an immigrant background) to learn more about civil society activism, and to be active members of the society and work towards less segregation and exclusion:

“I would consider myself as a solution oriented person, focusing on the solution rather than grieving for the problem. In many societies there’s a lack of integration method of the migrant-backgrounded youth to the society which results in the aggression of the youth. Mostly, these communities live in bubbles where most of the time have no access to governmental organizations and initiatives. My aim is to connect these two bubbles from within using the advantage of my state."

Read more about SKY Nuoriso: https://www.skyry.fi/about-us-2/

Vilma is 24 year old and the CEO of RARE, a next-generation media company that creates journalistic and impactful content on social media platforms. Their work is inspired by the UN's Agenda2030 SDGs, and Vilma believes that: 

“Everything we do in RARE moves us towards a more sustainable future.”

RARE’S goal is to have a positive impact on the youth and society through the tools of media. Currently, they create and share publications and campaigns to Instagram and TikTok based on the UN's 17 goals. They do research to make a handbook for more sustainable and diverse media (RARE X Diversity, funded by Media Industry Research Foundation of Finland) and create workshops for young people about influencing in social media. Through these projects, Vilma already noticed they are contributing to positive change in society — especially in the field of Finnish media — in the gens Y and Z. Additionally, they are the official media partner of Lahti Green Capital 2021.

“On a daily basis, I am thinking about sustainability in entrepreneurship, leadership, and teamwork. I see that I'm making an impact on my work personally, too, and I would like to have more of that.”

Read more about RARE: https://raremedia.fi/

Ronny Eriksson is the Co-founder of Ambitious.Africa, a global movement that breaks down intergenerational and cultural barriers — allowing thousands of young people, to lead the change supported by local governments.

Ambitious.Africa contributes to the mindset of the youth, bridging the youth of the continents, targeting real issues, supported by resources and accessibility to finally reach the SDG's.

Furthermore, Ambitious.Africa is focusing on adopting the educational and entrepreneurial best-practices of the Nordic countries and delivering through entertainment making changemaking fun.

Lastly, Ambitious.Africa is also about solving the problems in Finland (Nordics), where the population is ageing. Ambitious.Africa also functions as a tool to allow young, ambitious individuals to move into new areas.

Ambitious.Africa offers a platform for everyone to grow their skills in what they are interested in. Learning by doing, doing together through low barrier knowledge sharing, mentoring and real ownership in projects.

“My intention with Ambitious.Africa is to create a youth lead global network that is self-sustaining years and years to come. For this reason, I need to develop, but more than that the people around me need to develop. To make this possible I'm looking for support how to make everything as structured as Ashoka and many other social enterprises have succeeded in. My goal is to make others more efficient and better and thus I need help and mentoring to be able to give help and function as a mentor.”

Read more about Ambitious.Africa: https://www.ambitious.africa/

Salaado Qasim is Co-founder and Chair of the Peace and Well-being organization, an NGO working to empower people by improving the living conditions of women and young people.

Salaado's organisation, Peace and Wellbeing (Rauhan ja hyvinvoinnin järjestö), which helps young people and women pursue their dreams by providing them with clear information on educational and career opportunities. The organisation particularly seeks to help those who feel they do not belong in society and cannot find their place. It also pursues this aim through various other projects including language courses, book clubs, and events for young people and women. In addition to her work with Peace and Wellbeing, Salaado is highly active in other campaigns.

This year, she was involved as a student ambassador in Finland's UN Human Rights Council campaign for 2022–2024 on the themes of new technologies, digital transformation, rights of women and girls, climate change, and education as a human right activist:

“I am motivated to do voluntary work because of my previous experiences in Finnish institutions. I have faced some difficulties in my own studies although I am born and bred in Finland. I have encountered teachers who have misjudged my abilities and my knowledge. However, this has not stopped me from going after my own desires. through my activism I want to ensure that every student succeeds and acts according to their own desires.”

Read more about the Peace and Wellbeing organization: https://www.rahy.fi/

Enja Seppänen, is a 27 year-old artist and Social Ethics Master’s student at the University of Helsinki.

Enja is part of a freshly established art collective with a vision of art that speaks out loud that which cannot be expressed with words.

Engaging art with dialogue adds a new way of experiencing and understanding.

She is the director of a modern dance production called Emma ja Elham, a story about poverty, loneliness and education in Finland. Enja’s inspiration comes from the gaps between people from different backgrounds, and she is motivated to try and fix some of those gaps with more empathy and understanding of the world not only through words and numbers but emotions and invisible structures. Enja is a firm believer of dialogue and she believes that art holds a special potential in initiating more understanding and empathic dialogue.

“My greatest motivation is the vision of a society where children and young people don’t have to go through things that I have. I find myself incredibly lucky and grateful to be where I am now, and that gives me strength even in challenging times.”

Learn more about her work here: https://kyyhkynen.tyt.fi/author/enja-seppanen/

Ruhan is a person of many passions and talents. Ruhan came to Finland from India when he was 12. According to him, schools in India have become focused on grades, colleges and jobs: 

“The real purpose of education has been lost”

As youth ambassador, Ruhan seeks opportunities to serve as a building block for a better tomorrow. Ruhan has been an active part of different local institutions, working as a member of the local Youth Council in Finland for two years.

He co-founded MUNDO out of a love for debate and seeing how the medium could both educate youth and to give them a platform to affect the world around them. Ruhan has worked to make positive progress in the world, on all possible levels, from an individual level to a global scope.

MUNDO has engaged youth across the world in current global issues and taught people the basics of debate: https://mundodebates.com