Mel and Dave in Rajpur, October 2025

In 2018, when Dave and Mel Murray stepped into the Praxis Venture Lab, JoyCorps was an idea searching for a clearer form. Those seven months became a defining season of learning, reflection, and discovery. We sensed a calling to build small startup communities among the world’s most marginalized—places where business could be a tangible expression of hope, dignity, and redemptive possibility. We believed entrepreneurship rooted in redemptive values could be a viable alternative to the often exploitative and extractive growth mindset that is the norm in the world today. Out of that conviction, the JoyCorps Fellowship was born in 2019.

From the beginning, we approached the Fellowship with open hands and a posture of experimentation. Our early years unfolded across India, Thailand, and Myanmar, as we navigated new cultures, new languages, and the layered realities of vulnerable communities. We walked alongside indigenous entrepreneurs launching ventures in agrarian and handicraft sectors—leaders committed not just to building businesses, but to building businesses that were good for people.

Over time, the Fellowship grew into a robust ecosystem of support. What began as a small experiment became a deeply relational program providing business coaching, leadership development, branding, access to markets and networks, grant capital, and legal advice. We hosted Entrepreneurial Summits that gathered entrepreneurs, investors, and ecosystem partners to imagine new possibilities together. Most importantly, we nurtured a community where growth was shaped by redemptive imagination, rather than competition or efficiency.

The impact exceeded what we envisioned. Over six years:

• We served more than 45 ventures across India and South Asia.

• Fellows created hundreds of dignifying jobs.

• Remote-region businesses accessed capital and expertise that would otherwise never reach them.

• Alumni continue to build ventures that preserve cultural heritage, spark innovation, and empower marginalized communities.

• In crisis moments—from financial hardship to COVID outbreaks—the community rallied so that no Fellow walked alone.

  
  

Why We Are Concluding the Fellowship in 2025

Fellowship Summit 2024

Over the last year, we paused intentionally—listening to alumni, partners, and the shifting entrepreneurial landscape. Through that process, one truth became clear: the needs of early-stage entrepreneurs are changing, and to serve them well, our model must evolve too.

We realized the JoyCorps Fellowship had completed its chapter as our core program. The work is not ending—rather, it is expanding into new expressions through JoyCorps Studio and the JoyCorps Ecosystem, designed to reach wider networks and build collaborative, community-driven solutions at scale.

Concluding the Fellowship in 2025 allows us to:

• Honor the extraordinary community built over six years

• Celebrate Fellows who now mentor, lead, and inspire others

• Redirect resources toward models that respond to emerging needs

• Carry forward the legacy of redemptive business in innovative ways

As we graduate our final cohort in 2024, we do so with deep gratitude. The entrepreneurs we have journeyed with have become teachers, collaborators, and friends. Their courage and commitment have shaped us profoundly.

The story is not ending. It is transforming.

What’s Next: A Journey Shaped by Aspire, Aspire Beyond, Accelerate, Ascent, and Studio

This next chapter is bigger than a single program—it is the unfolding of an ecosystem designed to support our 2035 mission:

JoyCorps is facilitating an ecosystem of 2,000+ entrepreneurs anchored by 250 exemplary ventures that make Redemptive Entrepreneurship a compelling and viable alternative in South Asia.

To move toward this future, we are building a clear, intentional funnel that supports entrepreneurs through four natural stages of their venture journey:Concept → Launch → Grow → Scale, with Studio deepening redemptive imagination throughout.

Aspire Dehradun 2025

1. Aspire: Concept

Aspire is our open-to-all entry point, where entrepreneurs clarify their ideas and build viable business models, revenue plans, and operational structures. It is practical venture building at its core.

2. Aspire Beyond: Launch

From each Aspire cohort, the top 10–20% are invited into Aspire Beyond, a nine-month launch program. Much like the Fellowship—but earlier in the venture cycle—it integrates three strands:

• Venture: Strengthening the model and moving toward launch

• Social Impact: Understanding meaningful change in their communities

• Formation: Exploring identity, values, and leadership

  
  

3. Accelerate: Grow

For ventures with early traction, Accelerate supports them in solidifying operations and expanding their reach.

4. Ascent: Scale

Ascent prepares emerging exemplar ventures for scale—future anchors of our 2035 vision.

5. Studio: Deepening Redemptive Imagination

JoyCorps Studio helps entrepreneurs articulate and integrate their social vision with their business model so impact is not an afterthought but part of their core identity. Studio maintains regular touch points with Aspire Beyond entrepreneurs and will begin piloting ORI Groups in 2026—small, themed gatherings that cultivate redemptive imagination around key challenges and opportunities.

Circle Design Workshop by Studio Team

By 2035, our hope is not simply to run programs, but to walk with entrepreneurs as they build ventures grounded in dignity, service, and redemption.

This is the road ahead.This is the transformation.And this is only the beginning.