ANGELA BUSHESKA
MACEDONIA, 19
Project: EnRoute
Basic Human Needs: Education, Environment, Food
When Angela was 17 years-old, she moved to Skopje, North Macedonia, to pursue Mathematic-Olympiad training. Angela stayed with her aunt, who grew very ill shortly after she moved in. Angela’s aunt suffered from cardiovascular disease in the past, and Skopje’s dense air pollution led her to complete blood vessel damage which resulted in her swift passing. Angela immediately delved into research to understand the causes of pollution and how to mitigate her role in its creation. While Skopje has ~500,000 citizens, the World Health Organization lists it as one of Europe’s cities with the highest concentration of CO2 emissions in the air. In April 2020, Angela founded EnRoute to harness the power of everyday actions to fight climate change and break down the stigma that living sustainably is an expensive and challenging commitment. EnRoute is a free mobile app that helps users make simple daily choices to reduce their carbon footprint and has already guided thousands of users to reduce more than 100,000kg of CO2 emissions. The app was recognized with the 2020 Social Impact Award, the 2020 Girls’ Voices for Change Contest Grand Prize, the 2021 Wonder Award by the Shawn Mendes Foundation and Global Changemakers, and Angela was named a 2021 Opportunity Desk 30 Under 30 Changemaker. EnRoute has transformed into an international movement building a global, inclusive community of young people who inspire and educate humanity to lead sustainable lives, already making an impact in 15 countries across 5 continents. Angela is working to integrate more ways the app can reduce a user’s footprint, establish additional university chapters across the world, and partner with schools in North Macedonia and the United States to offer software to its students that assists with sustainable living.