China’s most philanthropic individual, Charles Chen Yidan is trying to change the world for the better with his eponymous prize. The co-founder of Tencent in 1998 along with his high school classmates, he became the internet giant’s chief administration officer, and also established its Tencent Foundation, blazing a trail among Chinese tech companies with his pledge to invest a portion of the company’s profits charitably. He stepped down from his main role at Tencent in 2013 with a plan to devote himself to philanthropy, founding the Chen Yidan Charity Foundation.

Three years later, he set up the Yidan Prize, the world’s largest educational prize, which offers two awards, worth HK$30 million each, to leading global innovators in education research and education development, and has also led to the creation of benchmarking tool Worldwide Educating for the Future Index and global educational philanthropy event the Yidan Prize Summit. He is also the founder of the private university Wuhan College.

(Photo: Callaghan Walsh)