Meet the founder… Bhakti Shah, The Outreach Collective

Describe your company in three words or phrases.

Explore, exchange, and evolve.

What inspired you to start the company? Was there a particular moment that sparked the idea?

After 18 years in the industry, I witnessed a fundamental disconnect across India’s education ecosystem. Schools, universities, counsellors, and solution providers were all shaping student outcomes, yet operating in complete silos — no coordination, no meaningful dialogue, no shared professional infrastructure.

I was working as an outreach professional with a university at the time. That year alone, we managed 350 school fairs. My team was stretched impossibly thin – working weekends, holidays, special occasions – simply because schools and universities weren’t communicating. The inefficiency was staggering, but the real issue was deeper: there was no equitable space where these stakeholders could engage as equals and build collective capacity.

TOC emerged to fill that void. What started as a WhatsApp group of 40 people grew to 1,000 within three months. That validated everything: the need wasn’t just real — it was urgent and market-wide.

How would you describe your company’s mission in one sentence?

TOC is a Global South–first professional development association building structured learning and networking infrastructure for the education ecosystem.

How would your team describe you as a leader?

I hold high standards, I am demanding, but with clear purpose. TOC operates as a not-for-profit with largely volunteer-driven efforts and one full-time employee, which requires a fundamentally different leadership approach.

But let me be direct: volunteering isn’t a favour, and it doesn’t mean reduced accountability. When you commit to a volunteer role, hundreds of members depend on that work being executed well and on time. I expect basic professional courtesies — respecting timelines, honoring commitments, delivering what you have promised.

My team would say I expect excellence because the work genuinely matters. Leadership here is about mutual respect, shared accountability, and recognising that impact doesn’t require a paycheck to be real.

What’s one misconception about your sector you’d love to correct?

That university enrolments depend entirely on schools. It’s both unfair and strategically flawed. Universities treating schools as transactional feeders is neither scalable nor sustainable as it creates unrealistic pressure on schools while preventing universities from building diversified recruitment strategies. The ecosystem needs to move beyond this outdated model and embrace multiple pathways to students. The sooner institutions recognise this, the stronger everyone becomes.

What keeps you energised outside of work?

Two things. First, food — I’m a khansama at heart. If I weren’t building TOC, I’d be running a kitchen. I specialize in Mughlai, Awadhi, and other regional Indian cuisines, and I am equally passionate about baking. Cooking isn’t a hobby for me; it’s how I think, create, and process.

Second, impact stories. When diverse stakeholders connect in our spaces and say, “We would never have met if it wasn’t for TOC” — that’s everything. Those moments of connection and the transformation they catalyse keep me going. It’s proof that the infrastructure we’re building actually works.

What advice would you give another founder entering the international education space?

Fundamentally rethink how you approach sales. Everyone is selling something — universities, companies, consultants — but the conversation transforms when you position yourself as solving a problem rather than pushing a product. Don’t lead with what you offer; lead with the challenge you’re addressing and the measurable value you create.

In education especially, thought leadership isn’t optional — it’s foundational infrastructure. If you’re only selling without building intellectual credibility, contributing meaningfully to discourse, and adding genuine value, you won’t build sustainable growth. Sales without substance is dead on arrival.

What initiatives are you rolling out in the near future?

We’re launching Initiate by TOC, a new entity structured around three verticals: research, learning, and experiences.

Under research, we’re partnering with Ashoka University to publish Pre-College Skills Audit in India 2026 — India’s first multi-stakeholder examination of skills readiness. The study begins in January with findings released in May.

The experiences vertical launches with the Sakura Immersion Program in partnership with Acumen – a first-of-its-kind Japan-focused professional development experience for independent counsellors across Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo.

In learning, we’ve partnered with Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning to offer a three-month Certificate in Career and College Guidance — formal credentialing for counselling professionals.

If you could accomplish one big thing in the next year, what would it be?

Building scalable, credential-worthy learning infrastructure that professionalizes the entire education ecosystem — counsellors, university representatives, service providers, and school leaders. This sector has operated on informal knowledge transfer and relationship-based learning for far too long.

If we can create formal pathways for continuous professional development – where expertise is recognised through credentials, learning is structured and ongoing, and professional growth is accessible across the Global South – we fundamentally elevate how the ecosystem functions. Better-equipped professionals create better student outcomes, stronger institutional partnerships, and more effective solution delivery.

That’s not incremental change, that’s the multiplier effect that transforms an entire industry.

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