Francesco Pio Manca

Francesco, a young changemaker from southern Italy, is redefining what it means to be a youth leader in a region where young people often leave in search of opportunity. While some are migrating north or abroad, Francesco is helping to build a future right where he is – through youth-led innovation, inclusive technology, and grassroots entrepreneurship.

At age 13, Francesco turned down a more traditional lyceum education track to pursue his interests in entrepreneurship at an economic high school. At just 16, Francesco co-founded Sportzine, a pioneering start-up that provides live audio commentary of football matches for blind fans via their smartphones. Sportzine first enabled 165 blind supporters to experience matches at Lecce’s stadium in Italy’s top league, using smartphone-based streaming and sensory-rich narration – and in 2025, the Italian Federation of Paralympic Sports for the Blind invited Sportzine to commentate all eight matches of the Italian 5-a-side Football Championship for the Blind, reaching 13,000+ users on YouTube.

In 2022, with five classmates, Francesco also co-founded Salentia – a youth start-up that promotes the potential of southern Italy and empowers students to think about pursuing careers in the region. As part of this initiative Francesco helped organise the Salentia Future Fest and SITO Expo – events that jointly drew 7,000+ young people and 40+ exhibitors. These events offered TEDx-style talks, exhibitions, workshops and mentorship to help students imagine and build their future – right from their hometown.

After seeing firsthand the need for job opportunities in southern Italy, Francesco then co-created VoleRete (meaning “You Will Fly”), a network of 27 local organisations and associations working together to offer young people a future. He is now applying for €500,000 in funding so that VoleRete can help make southern Italy more attractive in terms of opportunities.

Francesco has graduated at the top of his class with a mark of 100/100 (cum laude). He now studies Digital Management at the University of Salento and continues to volunteer with non-profits like Etica Etnica (supporting Afghan girls’ education) and the anti-bullying movement Mabasta. His story is proof that young people don’t need to wait to lead. In 2022, he co-created a virtual exchange with Ukrainian students during the war ("You Are Not Alone") to support those under attack. He has also won top innovation prizes across Italy and has become a junior coach at Italy’s leading youth entrepreneurship academy, the WeDo Academy Summer Camp.

If awarded the Global Student Prize, Francesco plans to turn Sportzine into a training school that will help young people with disabilities to approach sport; he will also use VoleRete to augment his city in a way that provides broader opportunities for local young people.