2025 Eugenio Garza Sada Prize awarded for transforming communities

An entrepreneur, a civil association, and a group of students and graduates have been awarded the 2025 Eugenio Garza Sada Prize in recognition of their efforts to impact and transform their communities through education and philanthropy. 

This prize is awarded in three categories:  

• Humanistic Business Leadership, which targets business leaders committed to social and educational development in Mexico. 

• Social Entrepreneurship, which focuses on civil society organizations that promote our country’s development and welfare. 

• Student Social Innovation, which recognizes projects conducted by Tecmilenio and Tecnológico de Monterrey students and graduates that improve the quality of life in Mexican communities. 

The entrepreneur Herman Harris, Centro de Asesoría y Promoción Juvenil A.C., and Share+ won this prize awarded by Tec de Monterrey and FEMSA. 

José Antonio Fernández, director and executive chairman of FEMSA’s Board of Directors, was charged with announcing the 2025 winners at the event held at the Monterrey campus Conference Center. 

“We’ve recognized people whose commitment, passion, and dedication have contributed to the country’s development for more than three decades. 

“This ceremony is the best way to honor the memory of Don Eugenio Garza Sada,” said Fernandez. 

Winners received the Luz Interior (Inner Light) sculpture designed by Yvonne Domenge, a certificate, and cash prizes totaling $2 million pesos across the three categories. 

Businessman Herman Harris was recognized in the Humanistic Business Leadership category for his initiatives such as providing eye care to more than 25,000 children, creating the South Tamaulipas Philanthropic Network, and providing food and educational support. 

His leadership of Grupo Tampico (now GT Global) impacts more than 12,000 people every day through Food for Charity. 

He has also fostered education by setting up scholarships, creating educational infrastructure, and being a benefactor of Tec de Monterrey for over 40 years. 

“The Eugenio Garza Sada Prize represents much more than a personal honor; it’s transcendental insofar as it recognizes the collective work and vision of a community that places respect and dignity for people at the center of everything it does. 

“Eugenio Garza Sada taught us that true greatness lies in serving and transforming our community,” said the award recipient. 

Herman Harris is president of the Fleishman Foundation, which has pioneered a model of high-impact philanthropy. He has created 58,000 jobs and his foundation has supported educational and social causes that have benefited more than seven million people. 

The winner received $750,000 pesos, which will be donated to charity. 

The Center for Youth Counseling and Promotion (Centro de Asesoría y Promoción Juvenil, A.C., CASA) has been providing tools to underprivileged children and young people for more than three decades to enable them to continue their educational development. 

CASA was given the Eugenio Garza Sada Prize in the Social Entrepreneurship category with 750,000 pesos being awarded directly to the organization. 

This civil society organization coordinates youth participation programs in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. 

It promotes the integral wellbeing of young people by lowering school dropout rates in addition to promoting culture and youth empowerment. 

Four young people joined forces to create Share+, for which they received the Eugenio Garza Sada Prize in the Student Social Innovation category. 

Share+ offers educational tools for areas without internet access. Through more inclusive and equitable learning, it has improved the education of 100,000 people since 2020 and 10,000 students in the last year alone. 

This innovation has enabled Alejandro Gabriel Hernández, Cristopher Esquivel, and Carolina Escamilla (graduates of the Tec’s Toluca campus) along with Gabriela Bernal (still a student) to promote education through more than seven hundred items of friendly content in video game format. 

“Education is much more than a right: it’s a path towards discovering what we want to be. Today we celebrate that faith in ideas and people can open doors that seemed impossible,” said Escamilla. 

“When we managed to give access to education, we not only changed a life but also ignited a spark in entire communities. This recognition fills us with pride because it shows us that we are on the right track and encourages us to achieve even more,” she added. 

Through this venture, they have impacted the lives of 100,000 students in Mexico and 12,000 students in California by offering content in English and Spanish. 

The Eugenio Garza Sada Prize was established in 1993 by FEMSA and Tec de Monterrey to commemorate the life, work, humanistic leadership, and legacy of businessman Eugenio Garza Sada, one of the founders of the educational institution in 1943. 

This award recognizes leading national or foreign individuals and institutions that contribute to the wellbeing of the Mexican community through the development, improvement and productive capacity of its human or physical resources.  

It also honors Tec de Monterrey and Tecmilenio students who lead high-impact and socially committed projects in Mexican communities. 

Throughout its history, the Eugenio Garza Sada Prize has bestowed seventy-eight distinctions, whose winners have gone on to provide benefits to more than nine million people. 

The seventy-eight recipients of this prize since 1993 have included thirty-three business leaders, thirty-two civil society organizations, and thirteen social projects. 

Attendees at the event included Consuelo Garza Lagüera de Garza and Eva Garza de Fernández, president and vice president of the Eugenio Garza Sada Prize organizing committee, respectively. 

Also in attendance were Ricardo Saldívar and David Garza, Chairman of the Executive Board and Executive President of the Tecnológico de Monterrey Education Group, respectively. 

Others present were organizing committee members Alfonso Garza Garza, Juan Pablo Murra, Gabriel Garza Rangel, Jessica Ponce de León, and Claudia Félix. 

David Garza said that, “The Eugenio Garza Sada Prize recognizes the trajectories and initiatives of leaders who, through their social work and entrepreneurship, favor Mexico.”  

Garza added that this award reminds us of Don Eugenio Garza Sada’s legacy by recognizing and inspiring an entrepreneurial culture that drives the social and economic development of communities.  

“To the 2025 winners, thank you for reminding us that leadership is measured by the collective impact we generate, for being an example, an inspiration, and an engine of change. 

“On behalf of the entire community of the Tecnológico de Monterrey Education Group, our admiration and deep appreciation,” concluded Garza. 

The 2026 Eugenio Garza Sada Prize is open for nominations for those who contribute to community wellbeing. 

During this year’s ceremony, it was announced that prizes are to be increased in 2026 for a total of 4,500,000 pesos across all categories. 

• Social Entrepreneurship: Two million pesos to be allocated to the winner’s project or cause. 

• Student Social Innovation: One million pesos, of which $500,000 is for the project and $500,000 for an international experience in an entrepreneurial ecosystem. 

• Humanistic Business Leadership: $1,500,000 pesos to be donated to a charity of the winner’s choice.