HeadstartGlobal Pte. Ltd.

Project Director (Student Mentor) Agreement

Volunteer mentoring role · Academic Year 2026–27

1. PURPOSE

1.1Headstart operates an early-careers platform that connects university students ("Students") with founder-mentored micro-internships ("Projects") listed by early-stage companies ("Startups"), and with graduate employers.

1.2Headstart invites students and recent graduates who have been through a Project themselves, or who have shown leadership elsewhere, to volunteer as Project Directors. A Project Director is a student mentor: someone a little further along who helps a Student team get the most out of their Project, guides them through the tricky moments, and is the friendly, experienced voice between the team and the founder. This Agreement records how the Project Director and Headstart intend to work together.

2. STATUS OF THIS AGREEMENT AND OF THE PROJECT DIRECTOR

2.1The Project Director is a volunteer mentor. This Agreement is a statement of intent describing a voluntary mentoring role. Other than the clauses listed in clause 2.2, it is not intended to create legal obligations between the Parties and is not legally binding.

2.2The following clauses are intended to be legally binding and enforceable: this clause 2, clause 8 (Confidentiality), clause 9 (Data Protection), clause 10 (Intellectual Property), clause 11 (Liability) and clause 14 (Governing Law and Jurisdiction).

2.3The Project Director is not an employee, worker, apprentice, agent or contractor of Headstart, and is not a manager or supervisor of any Student. Headstart is not obliged to offer the Project Director any Project, and the Project Director is not obliged to take on any Project or to carry out any task. The Project Director may step back from the role, or from a particular Project, at any time under clause 12.

2.4The Project Director will not receive any wage, fee or other payment for the role. The support described in clause 6 is provided at Headstart's discretion to help the Project Director grow through mentoring and is not consideration for, or payment for, any work.

2.5The Project Director has no authority to make commitments, promises or agreements on Headstart's behalf, to Students, Startups or anyone else, and will not hold themselves out as able to do so. Decisions about who joins a Project, and about the Project itself, sit with Headstart.

3. TERM

3.1This Agreement begins on the Effective Date and continues until 31 August 2027 (the "Term"), covering the Project cycles that run in that period, unless ended earlier under clause 12.

3.2Headstart asks Project Directors to plan to mentor across at least two consecutive Project cycles, because a mentor who has seen a full cycle through is far more useful to the next team. This is an expectation, not a binding commitment.

3.3If both Parties wish to continue, Headstart will issue a new agreement for the following academic year.

4. THE MENTORING ROLE

4.1In each cycle, the Project Director may choose up to two Projects to mentor from the list Headstart provides (or tell Headstart they are sitting that cycle out). For each Project, Headstart asks the Project Director to follow the Headstart Project Director Guide (the "Guide"). In outline, the role is:

4.2Before the team is formed — helping Headstart find the right Students:

(a)meeting the Startup's founder to understand the brief, what a good team would look like, and how Headstart likes Projects to run;

(b)reviewing and scoring applications against Headstart's selection criteria, interviewing shortlisted candidates within the cycle timetable, and recommending a team, including a suggested team lead, to Headstart. Headstart, not the Project Director, makes the final decision and communicates offers and rejections.

4.3During the Project — being the team's mentor:

(a)running the kick-off meeting, helping the team set up their shared folder and channel, and helping them agree how they will work together;

(b)checking in with the team at least fortnightly to see how they are getting on, sharing what worked on the Project Director's own Projects, and helping them think through problems rather than solving the problems for them;

(c)holding a mid-project check-in with the team and the founder so both sides can say how it is going;

(d)being the person a Student can come to if something is not working — with a teammate, with the founder, or with their own time — and helping them find a way forward, or bringing Headstart in where needed;

(e)keeping the Project Director tracker up to date so Headstart can see where each team is.

4.4At the end of the Project — closing well:

(a)running the wrap-up call, helping the team reflect on what they learned and how to talk about the Project in future applications, and making sure feedback forms are completed;

(b)handling any request for a short extension in line with the Guide.

4.5The workload is heaviest in the two to three weeks around recruitment and much lighter during the Project itself. Headstart will share cycle timetables in advance so the Project Director can plan around their own studies or work.

4.6Headstart may update the Guide from time to time and will tell Project Directors when it does. The Guide describes how Headstart would like the role done; it does not turn any part of the role into a binding obligation.

5. HOW HEADSTART ASKS PROJECT DIRECTORS TO MENTOR

5.1Headstart asks the Project Director to:

(a)put the Students first: remember that they are volunteers, often on their first professional project, and that the Project Director is usually the first person they will turn to;

(b)mentor, not manage: encourage, guide and share experience, and leave direction of the work to the team and the founder. The Project Director does not set hours or deadlines, assess performance, or discipline anyone;

(c)assess candidates fairly and consistently against Headstart's published criteria, and not on the basis of any protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 or on personal connection;

(d)declare to Headstart any conflict of interest — for example, a candidate they know personally, a Startup they have a connection with, or a Project they wish to join themselves — and step back from the relevant decision if Headstart asks;

(e)communicate warmly and promptly with Students, founders and Headstart, using the templates and channels Headstart provides;

(f)refer to Headstart any request from a founder that goes beyond the Guide (for example, a request to see all CVs or to join interviews), rather than agreeing or refusing on Headstart's behalf;

(g)bring Headstart in early on anything that needs more than a mentor: a concern about a Student's or founder's conduct, wellbeing or safety, a dispute, a Project ending early, or anything they are unsure about.

6. WHAT HEADSTART WILL PROVIDE

6.1Headstart intends to provide the Project Director with:

(a)the Guide, templates, trackers, selection criteria and an onboarding briefing from the founders of Headstart;

(b)a named Headstart contact and a Project Director community where mentors can support each other;

(c)direct access to the Headstart founders and to the founders of the Startups whose Projects they mentor;

(d)on request, a written reference or confirmation of the mentoring role.

6.2Headstart may vary the support in clause 6.1 for future cycles and will tell the Project Director before it does so.

7. USE OF HEADSTART SYSTEMS

7.1Headstart asks the Project Director to use the accounts, folders, trackers and communication channels Headstart provides or approves for anything involving Students' or Startups' personal or confidential information, rather than personal accounts, and to keep any login credentials secure and personal to them.

8. CONFIDENTIALITY

8.1In the role, the Project Director will receive non-public information about Headstart (including its selection criteria, trackers, pricing, plans and partner relationships), about Startups (including their business plans and products) and about Students (including their applications, interview performance and anything they share in confidence as their mentor). All of this is "Confidential Information", whether or not marked as such.

8.2The Project Director will keep Confidential Information confidential, use it only for the role, not disclose it to anyone other than Headstart staff and, where the Guide permits, the relevant Startup or team, and return or delete it when the role ends or when Headstart asks.

8.3This clause does not apply to information that is or becomes public through no fault of the Project Director, that the Project Director already lawfully knew, or that must be disclosed by law. It continues for three (3) years after this Agreement ends.

9. DATA PROTECTION

9.1In the role, the Project Director will handle Students' personal data (including names, contact details, CVs, application answers, interview notes and scores) and Startups' contact details. The Project Director does so as a person authorised by Headstart and acting under Headstart's instructions. Headstart is the controller of that data.

9.2The Project Director will:

(a)process personal data only for the purposes of the role and in accordance with this Agreement, the Guide and any instructions from Headstart;

(b)keep personal data secure, hold it only in Headstart-provided or approved systems (clause 7), and not copy it to personal devices, accounts or messaging apps beyond what the Guide expressly allows;

(c)not share any applicant's CV or application with a Startup, and share Students' data with a Startup only for the selected team and only as the Guide permits;

(d)not use personal data for any purpose of their own, and not keep it after the role ends;

(e)tell Headstart within twenty-four (24) hours of becoming aware of any actual or suspected loss, unauthorised access to, or misuse of personal data;

(f)refer to Headstart any request from a Student or anyone else to access, correct or delete their data, or any complaint about how it has been handled.

9.3Headstart will handle the Project Director's own personal data in accordance with its privacy policy and the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018.

10. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

10.1Anything the Project Director creates for Headstart in the role — for example, templates, guides, interview questions, feedback summaries or process improvements — belongs to Headstart. The Project Director assigns to Headstart all intellectual property rights in such material on creation and waives any moral rights in it so far as the law allows.

10.2The Project Director may describe the role and their mentoring experience in their CV, professional profiles and interviews, provided they do not disclose Confidential Information.

10.3The Project Director acquires no rights in the Headstart platform, brand, materials or methodology.

11. LIABILITY

11.1The Project Director is a volunteer mentor helping Headstart run its programme, not a party responsible for it. The Project Director has no liability to Headstart under or in connection with this Agreement or the role.

11.2Headstart is responsible for the programme and for the way it is run. If any Student, Startup or other third party brings a claim or complaint arising from anything the Project Director did or did not do in good faith in the role, Headstart will deal with it and will not seek any contribution from the Project Director. This does not extend to fraud or deliberate wrongdoing by the Project Director.

11.3Nothing in this Agreement limits or excludes Headstart's liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be limited by law. Subject to that, Headstart is not liable to the Project Director for any indirect or consequential loss.

11.4Headstart does not require the Project Director to attend any physical location. Any decision to do so is the Project Director's own.

12. ENDING THE ARRANGEMENT

12.1Either Party may end this Agreement, or the Project Director's involvement in a particular Project, at any time by written notice to the other. Where a Project is live, Headstart asks the Project Director to give two (2) weeks' notice where possible and to hand over the tracker and any open actions so the team is not left without a mentor.

12.2Headstart may end this Agreement immediately if the Project Director breaches clause 8 or clause 9, behaves in a way Headstart reasonably considers inappropriate towards a Student, Startup or member of Headstart's team, or does anything that could bring Headstart into disrepute.

12.3Clauses 2, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 14 continue after this Agreement ends.

13. NOTICES

13.1Notices under this Agreement are to be sent by email — to management@headstartglobal.io for Headstart, and to the email address registered on the platform for the Project Director — and are treated as given on the next business day.

14. GOVERNING LAW AND JURISDICTION

14.1This Agreement, and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with it, is governed by the law of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction, except that the Project Director may bring a claim in the courts of the country in which they live where the law requires.

15. GENERAL

15.1This Agreement sets out everything the Parties have agreed about the Project Director role and replaces any earlier agreement or understanding on the same subject, whether written or oral.

15.2This Agreement may only be changed in writing. Nothing in it prevents the Project Director from also taking part in Projects as a Student under the Headstart Student Agreement.

15.3If any part of this Agreement is found to be unenforceable, the rest continues to apply. This Agreement is accepted electronically by ticking the acceptance box on the Headstart platform, which has the same effect as a signature.