Born and raised in Iran, Arian is a first-generation university student who is driven by an insatiable curiosity to learn and a desire to make a meaningful contribution to cancer treatment and prevention.

“I became interested in pursuing medicine during my freshman year of high school when I walked into the ICU and saw my mother laying down after thyroid cancer surgery,” Arian shares. “As a child, I distinctly remember having many questions related to cancer. What causes it? How can we prevent it?”

Arian is driven to find the answers to those questions and make a difference, and has already demonstrated great impact in his field as an undergraduate student.

He contributed to novel treatments for patients diagnosed with diabetes at UPMC Children’s Hospital and conducted pancreatic cancer research at esteemed institutions, including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Cornell University’s Medical School.

As an international student with expensive tuition and mounting bills, Arian had been stretched thin between school and working two part-time jobs – and credits his Western Union Foundation scholarship and CEO Scholar award as critical pieces in his academic journey.

“Your belief in my potential, especially during a time when I faced financial hardships in my undergraduate journey, is deeply meaningful to me,” shared Arian. “My ultimate aim is to use my education to grow as a young scientist, with the aspiration of contributing to cancer research and finding potential novel therapeutics for cancer patients like my mother.”

Having grown up in Uganda, Catherine saw firsthand how lack of access to menstruation education and products negatively impacts millions of girls in rural areas. That was the impetus for her launch of the Safe Girl Initiative, which aims to provide safe and affordable menstruation kits to underserved women and girls to help prevent absences from school and work, and provide girls with the dignity they deserve.

“What differentiates us is we provide an all-in-one solution. We’ve produced over 65,000 menstrual kits which have been distributed around the country, and we have opened a new production space that employs 22 people.”

“Being a part of the Western Union Foundation Fellowship has been an amazing journey of learning and discovery for me and my venture. The unique learning structure has enabled me to re-learn what I thought I knew, integrate some of my learnings into my venture, and see growth in it. The program components address our most critical challenges as entrepreneurs.”

Growing up in Iraq and witnessing the harsh realities of war, Zainab struggled to imagine what opportunities would be available for her in an environment that offered little support for women in the workforce.

In the face of adversity, Zainab’s love for solving mathematical problems emerged as a beacon of possibility for a career in tech. She became determined to achieve this dream and made the difficult decision to leave Iraq and start a new life in Turkey, where she discovered the transformative power of Re:Coded’s bootcamps.

“I applied to be part of a Re:Coded bootcamp so many times and when I finally got my acceptance later, I was ecstatic and really proud of myself.”

Balancing a full-time job while navigating the bootcamp, Zainab not only mastered the fundamentals and honed her programming skills but also forged lasting connections with fellow students. She was determined to leverage her newfound skills for her dream career, and just a few months after graduation she landed a role as a front-end developer.

Growing up in Venezuela, Enrique had limited options to study programming despite his interest in the field. At one point Enrique almost gave up on his dream to become a developer, until he moved to Colombia and found an opportunity with GOYN’s bootcamps.

“I took advantage of the opportunity that was presented to me, because in my place of origin I did not have the option of studying in this field,” Enrique shared. “The bootcamp opened many doors for me in terms of knowledge, networking, friendships, and projects.”

Enrique was excited to put his new knowledge to use and continue learning even more, which is why he sought out more opportunities to expand his knowledge by participating in more bootcamps offered by GOYN.

“I started a business during the pandemic and am applying the knowledge I’ve learned through the bootcamps. I’m working to establish my own e-commerce and am already seeing results,” Enrique said. “I’m also studying in another bootcamp to obtain certification as a full-stack developer with a focus on Java.”

Mariam is the founder of Greenhill Recycling, a social enterprise that supports low-income communities in Nigeria by using recyclable waste as a currency of exchange. With a reward-for-recycling model, the organization gives households the opportunity to exchange their recyclable waste for redeemable points. These points can then be exchanged for items like groceries, utility bill payments, or school supplies. In addition to supporting impoverished communities, Greenhill Recycling also sorts, processes and sells the raw recycled materials to produce polyester fiber.

“The Forward•Inc Accelerator program provided me with significant benefits, with one of the most notable being the comprehensive training on investor readiness which enabled us to clearly discern what investors seek in a business. The program not only enhanced our visibility, but also motivated us to ascend further in the recycling value chain, aiming to have a greater impact on lives and positioning ourselves more attractively for substantial investments.”

Iris is a motivated young woman who wanted to start her own enterprise to help support her parents and siblings. By participating in You(th) Connect 2.0, Iris was given the training and resources needed to start her own business and make significant contributions to her household.

“I’m the third-born of seven children, so I try my best to help my family,” Iris shared. “I used to work as an on-call mango slicer in our village whenever the fruit was in season. It was not a permanent job and below minimum wage, so it was not enough to cover my family’s daily living expenses.

I was lucky to be part of Plan International’s You(th) Connect 2.0 Project and given an opportunity to start my own business – which truly helped me and my family. Through the training and financial support, I was able to set up my own Sari-sari Store (neighborhood grocery shop). Ever since it opened and I started earning, I have been able to help my parents with our daily expenses. It’s hard at first, but I am hopeful that I will be able to expand it someday.

For other young people like me, my message for you is to never lose hope and never stop dreaming.”