Aarushi Tiwari

Indian social entrepreneur empowering marginalized girls through digital education initiatives

Aarushi Tiwari (1995-) founded Digital Bridge Foundation in 2021, a nonprofit revolutionizing education access in India's rural regions. Her flagship program "EduCloud" provides solar-powered tablet labs with offline educational content to 1,200+ schools, reaching 250,000 students by 2024. Aarushi's innovation earned her the Ashoka Fellowship in 2022 and a Rolex Award in 2023.

Her breakthrough came with the "Girls Code Hub" initiative, training 15,000+ girls in coding and digital literacy since 2020. This program's graduates have founded 300+ tech startups, including AI-driven agricultural tools and health monitoring apps. Aarushi's partnership with UNESCO's Gender Equality Program expanded her model to 5 more countries.

In 2024, she launched the Education Impact Bond, a first-of-its-kind financing mechanism allowing investors to fund education projects with returns tied to social impact metrics. Her work was featured in the documentary 《India's Digital Dreamers》 (2024), winning Best Social Impact Film at the Mumbai Film Festival. Aarushi's TED Talk "How to Educate a Nation with Tablets and Sunlight" has over 1.8 million views.