Owais Iqbal, 19, is a multi-award-winning EdTech founder modernising how young people are prepared for life beyond education. Attending six different schools before becoming a degree apprentice, he experienced firsthand the absence of life skills education, a gap leaving more than half of young people unprepared for the real world. 

Driven by this experience, Owais developed Fledglings, a scenario-based platform grounded in experiential learning theory and behaviour-change science, immersing learners in AI-powered simulations of real life building skills through decisions, not worksheets, while generating evidence for institutions. He won the Innovative Social Enterprise category in Aston University's Adrian Cadbury Entrepreneurial Awards, and Fledglings, backed by the university, works with schools and apprenticeship providers nationwide. 

At 16, he won Young Enterprise's UK Company of the Year with Monito, a social enterprise teaching financial literacy through Kiki the Koala, represented the UK at the European finals, and won the Delta Air Lines European Leadership Award. By 18, he was in the Houses of Parliament, urging policymakers to confront the gap he is now solving. 

For policymakers and educational leaders, Owais offers a blueprint to close the readiness gap, rebuild young people's confidence, and turn a “lost generation” into a prepared one.