Some children grow up knowing they have opportunities. Asavari Agrawal grew up wondering why everyone did not and was already asking a question: what can I do for someone else?
Growing up in Bengaluru, Asavari had opportunities that many children around her did not. At Inventure Academy, she explored academics, sports, music and dance. She became a competitive table-tennis player, trained in Bharatanatyam and piano, and took on leadership responsibilities at school. But her privileged environment also made her increasingly aware of another reality, the children living in the same city who did not have access to the same opportunities.
Her mother, who runs the award-winning restaurant Via Milano, became an important influence too.
Asavari watched her mother build a business without formal business training and understood the value of knowledge and opportunity. Her family supported her curiosity, but the idea she eventually created was very much her own.
In 2022, at just 13, Asavari began Shape the Future. There was no elaborate beginning. She started by using her own savings to buy notebooks and pencils and began teaching children in government schools and orphanages.
Then she noticed more. Some children needed sports. So she helped establish a table-tennis academy. Some needed access to menstrual hygiene products. She began monthly pad drives; and, according to her organisation’s account, has not missed one since.
Health concerns led to dental and eye camps. A lack of access to broader knowledge inspired her and fellow students to create a free online learning platform covering subjects including economics, law, business and money management.
One initiative became another. And soon, Asavari was no longer doing it alone. More than 100 student volunteers joined Shape the Future, helping conduct programmes in education, sports, hygiene, mental health and the arts. The organisation has reached hundreds of children and developed projects such as a school library and community health initiatives.
Even her Bharatanatyam journey became an opportunity to give. At her Arangetram, instead of asking guests for gifts, Asavari requested donations for children battling cancer. The evening reportedly raised ₹1.8 lakh, followed by further fundraising through bake sales, lemonade stands, craft sales and tournament prize money.
Today, at 17, Asavari’s story carries a simple message for Gen Z.
You don’t have to wait until you are older.
You don’t need a huge organisation.
You don’t need to have everything figured out.
Sometimes, you simply need to notice a problem, and get up and do something about it.
Asavari’s journey shows what can happen when youthful energy is combined with empathy and action. Her work has earned recognition, including the Rabindra Ratna Puraskar 2026 for Social Work Education.
But perhaps the most powerful part of her story is how it began.
Not with a title.
Not with funding.
Not with a perfect plan.
Just a teenager who decided not to wait.And perhaps that is exactly where the next generation of change-makers will begin too.
