New Delhi: Aspire Circle launched their maiden ‘Aspire Circle Impact Report’ in the presence of social sector stalwarts and impact creators at a virtual event. The impact report showcases how Aspire’s conviction to bring social change based on fellowship, scholarship, and internship has borne fruit in the past 14 years. Aspire has nurtured hundreds of leaders through fellowships, scholarships and internships that focused on personal transformation, organisational and community impact, and has supported young achievers from humble backgrounds, such as Rani Rampal, the current captain of the Indian Women’s Hockey team, and the world’s top archer Deepika Kumari, become national heroes.
“With 1.5 billion people, a USD 3 trillion national GDP and USD 2,000 per capita income, India is already a force to reckon with. However, as the pandemic pushed more Indians into poverty, from 60 million to 134, Aspire Circle will redouble its initiatives to create impact leadership and foster ecosystems,” says Amit Bhatia, Founder & Managing Trustee, Aspire Circle.
“As we progress to 2030, we aim to create more than 1,000 Fellows inspired by enlightened, values-based, servant-leadership to serve India’s poor; award 100 scholarships to young people from humble or challenged backgrounds, who will lead India’s resurgence in academics, arts, sports and adventure; and create over 500 interns, specialised in Impact Science, who will power our social sector organisations,” says Mr Bhatia.
Aspire Circle Fellowship Program develops social leaders through a one-year fellowship and lifelong engagement, focused on personal transformation, organisational impact, and community impact. Aspire Circle now has more than 200 Fellows. Just 45 of the 200 Fellows, who responded to the Impact survey, invest USD 389 million annually in 14 of 17 SDGs, impacting 57 million lives. 98 per cent voted that their knowledge was enhanced; 96 per cent gained a more enlightened sense of purpose; 94 per cent gained more self-confidence; 82 per cent made changes to their organisation or programme design, and 72 per cent were only part of this Fellowship. On average, each Fellow found 22 new connections and created two new collaborations.
Aspire Circle Scholarship Program annually grants three young achievers, under the age of 30, from humble backgrounds, an INR 1 Lakh scholarship each. To date, Aspire Circle has awarded 34 scholarships in the field of sports, adventure, arts, music, and academics. 71 per cent of them were women, 33 per cent from impoverished backgrounds, 24 per cent were #PWDs (Persons with Disabilities). Over 100K students were introduced to their inspiring feats through the Young Achiever Talks. 60 per cent of all #YoungAchievers, notably, Saina Nehwal, Dipika Kumari, Rani Rampal, Arunima Sinha, went on to achieve career peaks after @AspireCircle awards, three of them as World #1s. There is more in the Aspire Circle Impact Report.
During 2020-21, Aspire Circle launched the Impact Future Project (IFP) that brought together more than 200 business, investment, non-profit, media and government leaders to generate investment ideas and unlock private capital for the public good, enabling India Inc. to embrace Impact Capitalism and Impact Accounting. The Impact Movement, which has grown globally to $59 trillion[1], is an unstoppable trend. Despite the pressing need to address social and environmental challenges, India has attracted only ~one per cent or $51billion of this global capital pool. The root cause is a lack of corporate alignment with impact, as there is no mandatory Responsibility, Sustainability or Impact Reporting. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has recently indicated that it wants to increase companies doing similar Reporting, from the top 500 to the top 1000 next year. Aspire Circle will launch the research and thought-leadership products, coming out of one year of IFP collaboration between October 5, 2021, and January 20, 2022, on Accessibility Disabilities & Inclusion; Education Skills & EdTech; WASH (Water Sanitation Hygiene & Waste Management); Healthcare, Pharma & HealthTech; BFSI Financial Inclusion & Fintech; Renewables, Climate Infra & CleanTech; Agriculture, Food & AgTech; and Women, Gender, Livelihoods & FemTech.
[1] As per Global Sustainable Investment Alliance, 2018 data