ISLAMABAD: Saad Siddiqui, the founder of the Pakistani e-learning platform Edversity, has been named social entrepreneur of the year at the 2025 BRICS and SCO Young Leaders Awards held in Kazan, Russia, state media reported on Wednesday.

This year’s awards received over 400 applications, including representatives of entrepreneurs, media influencers, researchers and environmental activists. Participants from 13 countries — Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and the UAE — competed for the prize. Nominees needed to be between 18 and 35 years old and citizens BRICS and SCO countries. 

The event’s participants competed in five categories: Media Influencer of the Year, Social Entrepreneur of the Year, Public Diplomacy Project, Researcher of the Year, and Eco-Initiative of the Year. Pakistan’s state APP news agency said Pakistan’s Siddiqui had won the social entrepreneur title. 

“Our focus is on providing affordable and accessible education in cutting-edge fields like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, and Web3, empowering individuals to thrive in the global digital economy,” Siddiqui, who is also a member of the Prime Minister’s Youth Council, was quoted by APP as saying. 

“Edversity is my vision to make technology education accessible to all, especially in underserved regions of Pakistan. Winning this award is a testament to Pakistan’s potential in innovation and entrepreneurship.”

While access to education was already a problem in Pakistan – 22.8 million of Pakistan’s over 70 million children are out of school – the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 closed down over 300,000 schools, affecting around 40 million children. The pandemic also rammed home the extent of the country’s digital divide as the fundamentals of connected life like smartphones and the Internet remained out of reach for millions of households, making it difficult to rely on virtual learning.

Eighty eight percent of South Asia’s school-age children have no Internet access at home, a December 2020 UNICEF-International Telecommunication Union report said. With only 33 percent of households having Internet access, many Pakistan students in particular encounter challenges using e-learning solutions, especially girls, UNICEF said in 2023.