California youth recognized by Prudential Emerging Visionaries program

Cupertino and Atherton students honored with $5,000 award and invitations to the 2023 summit for their work addressing the challenges of a changing world.

NEWARK, N.J., Feb. 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Aaryan Doshi, 16, of Cupertino, California, and Rishan Patel, 16, of Atherton, California, today were named 2023 Prudential Emerging Visionaries for their inspiring commitment to improving the lives of others.

As two of 25 Prudential Emerging Visionary winners, Aaryan and Rishan will each receive a $5,000 award to help take their innovations to the next level. They are also invited to attend an all-expenses-paid trip with their parent or guardian to Prudential's Newark, New Jersey, headquarters for a three-day summit in April where they will receive coaching, skills development and networking opportunities with Prudential employees and other young leaders.

Prudential Emerging Visionaries recognizes young people ages 14-18 whose fresh perspectives and innovative solutions address pressing financial and societal challenges in their communities.

"The goals of our Emerging Visionaries program reflect Prudential's overarching purpose: to make lives better by solving the financial challenges of our changing world," said Chairman and CEO Charles Lowrey. "We applaud all of our honorees for their commitment to improving the lives of others and creating inclusive and thriving communities."

California's 2023 Prudential Emerging Visionaries:

FINANCIAL PROJECTS CATEGORY

Aaryan Doshi, leads "CirFin," a global initiative that aims to inspire young people to use fintech to support and strengthen more sustainable economies. "CirFin" equips young leaders with the education and resources they need to create innovative fintech solutions to address sustainability issues, such as new technologies for reusing materials and decreasing waste, and use them as a launching point to create innovative enterprises that serve their communities.

"I realized how little this generation knew about the circular economy and its financial components. Who will be the change agents if youth do not understand how crucial the circular economy is to combat biodiversity loss and pollution threatening our planet?" he says. So far, the initiative has more than 100 international participants and four international chapters.

SOCIETAL PROJECTS CATEGORY

Rishan Patel, leads "The Lending Locker," which increases youth access to sports by providing free athletic gear year-round to underserved schools. The cost of athletic equipment is often prohibitive, making sports programs inaccessible to many young people. Rishan's initiative aims to change this while reducing landfill by pairing a student "captain" with a participating school to install a storage unit and maintain the equipment in the locker through sports gear donation drives.

So far, "The Lending Locker" has piloted their program with five lockers, including one in India, and they have 10 new partner schools and captains ready to install lockers. Rishan envisions 100 more Lending Lockers worldwide by the end of 2024.

Emerging Visionaries is a collaboration between Prudential Financial and Ashoka, a leading social impact organization, with support from the Financial Health Network, an authority on financial health and longtime partner of The Prudential Foundation.

During the summit, to be held April 22-25, 2023, five winners will also have the opportunity to present their solutions in a pitch-off, where a grand prize winner will be awarded an additional $10,000 in funding. What's more, Prudential employees will again vote to name an Employees' Choice Award winner, who will receive an additional $5,000.

The program is an evolution of Prudential's Spirit of Community Awards, which, over 26 years, honored more than 150,000 outstanding youth volunteers.

To read about all of this year's Prudential Emerging Visionaries, visit prudential.com/emergingvisionaries.

About Prudential Financial
Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial wellness leader and premier active global investment manager, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees help to make lives better by creating financial opportunity for more people. Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit news.prudential.com.

About Ashoka
Ashoka is the largest global network of leading social entrepreneurs — individuals with new ideas to systemically address the world's biggest challenges and the entrepreneurial skill to transform those ideas into national, regional and global social impact. Over 40 years, Ashoka has supported more than 3,600 social entrepreneurs in 90 countries with solutions addressing society's most pressing issues. Ashoka's vision is a world in which Everyone Is a Changemaker — a society that responds quickly and effectively to challenges, and where each individual has the freedom, confidence and societal support to address any social problem. For more information, visit ashoka.org.

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SOURCE Prudential Financial, Inc.