The Circle Incubation Program is a two-year, fully paid, incubation program for entrepreneurs with the commitment and courage to reinvent and launch innovative learning centres for India’s children.
Through intensive support and a peer community, The Circle Incubation will equip entrepreneurs with the knowledge and skills to:
1. Design an innovative school or after-school program
2. Start and successfully launch a school or after-school program
3. Run and sustain a high-performing school or after-school program
While there are other shared beliefs and commitments that connect The Circle’s schools and after-school programs, the most critical ones for you to know at this stage are the following:
1. Three Commitments: Commitment to offering students a holistic vision of success, which spans what we call a commitment to self, others, and India. In other words, we believe that you should focus on the academic skills and accompanying competencies to grow students’ life opportunities. At the same time, we believe that your vision must also equip students to impact others and make the people around them - and India - a better place. Your student vision must be holistic.
2. Lead to Results: Children learning and being able to unlock their potential is at the heart of everything we do. We believe that measurement in the form of assessments is necessary for us and you to know whether or not that is happening. The data gathered can help you adjust your program accordingly. Reinvention without progress is pointless, and progress without measurement can also be attributed to chance.
We offer our entrepreneurs the flexibility to choose from a comprehensive set of valid assessments to gauge growth in their school or after-school program. And those measurements will be aligned to competencies aligned to Self, Other, and India. Examples of these assessments may include a literacy assessment or a holistic survey for children. They may also include behind-the-scenes indicators like student attendance.
3. Cultivate Equity: Our vision and mission are firmly rooted in building an India that is free of poverty. We believe, therefore, that schools and entrepreneurs need to stay committed to serving students from underserved communities. While we value and encourage socioeconomic diversity, we will always ensure that the majority of students within our entrepreneurs’ schools are from underserved communities. We will therefore require that at least 50% of your students come from low-income backgrounds.
Our vision and mission are firmly rooted in building an India that is free of poverty. We believe, therefore, that schools and entrepreneurs we support need to stay committed to serving students from underserved communities. While we value and encourage socioeconomic diversity, we want to always ensure that the majority of students (i.e. more than 50%, at a minimum) within our schools or centres are from underserved communities.
Over the course of a two-year journey, incubated entrepreneurs will work with experienced coaches and facilitators from across the world to access a suite of learning experiences:
1. Visits to innovative, high-performing schools across India and the world
2. Serve in a six-week apprenticeship within a high-performing school
3. Work closely with school-leaders and executive coaches to build skill
4. Access a network of support from peers & community leaders
5. Attend workshops and training days to access new content
6. Explore design & creation tools to build your school or after-school program
7. Tap into governmental & legal support as you start your venture
8. Get connected to funders and supporters to bring your dream to life
You will be paid around 55,000-60,000 INR every month for the first year of the Incubation. In your second year, we’ll offer a similar stipend but will keep it need-based; if you need the support, we will offer it.
The school or after-school program that you launch can be located in any part of India.
Entrepreneurs who are incubated by The Circle join a growing network of schools and after-school programs across the country. You will operate as an independent and empowered entrepreneur. But you’ll be a part of a community. Connected by a common set of shared beliefs and commitments, incubated entrepreneurs sign up for a lifetime of support and community.
1. Join a growing community of entrepreneurs and peers who are committed to changing the world
2. Attend conferences, events, and virtual professional development experiences
3. Send your school’s children to shared conferences and events
4. Access curricular tools and resources intended to help improve and grow your venture
5. Work with coaches and experts who are committed not only to your school’s effectiveness but also your personal development
While the first year of the incubation is rooted in learning, designing and conceptualising your school or after-school program, the second year will focus on running pilots with small groups of children to test those designs. We expect you to launch your school or after-school program at the end of the second year.
No. During the incubation, you will be equipped with the necessary skills to design and create your own school or after-school program. However, if you recently started (within the last 18 months) a school or after-school program, we encourage you to apply as the incubation can still benefit you.
No. The Incubation Program will be a mix of virtual and in-person training and workshops. For onsite learning, we will reimburse entrepreneurs for their travel costs and take care of their accommodation. For online training, entrepreneurs will need to ensure an extremely reliable internet connection so as to fully participate in the program.
The Incubation workshops and training will be conducted in English, therefore proficiency in English is a requirement.
We, at this time, do not offer a deferral option.
We will likely, in year one, be spending 30% of a month together, as a cohort. Majority of this time will be in-person contact hours (approximately 7 days a month), but some of it will be online. In the first month - for induction - our in-person time will be higher (approximately 14 days).We expect the contact hours, in year two, to decrease to 20%.
When you are not together as a cohort, though, we expect entrepreneurs to be dedicating 100% of their time to developing their school or after-school program. The Incubation will have key milestones of success and accompanying deliverables along the way. These milestones are to ensure that you’re set up for success and ready to launch at the end of year two. We expect you, therefore, to spend the remainder of your time researching, designing, working with coaches, piloting, and more.
FAQs
The Circle is on a journey to reinvent schools across India.
We are staring into a consequential moment in time. India has the world’s fastest-growing young population. We also house the world’s largest proportion of impoverished citizens.
