‘Nigeria has the potential to be a leading contributor to the transformation of West/ Central Africa’
Marko Saravanja is an academic and a former development worker and monk, with a PhD in Performance Management. Marko was a finalist of Ernst Young World Entrepreneurship Awards in 2009, and serves on the Advisory Board of First National Bank in South Africa. He started the free online business education initiative at Regenesys Business School, with the purpose of providing free online business education to the world. PATRICK ATUANYA engages Saravanja in this interview ranging from Regenesys’ upcoming event in Lagos and plans to become leading international business school in Nigeria. Excerpt:
Tell us about Regenesys and what value proposition the business school offers to prospective students and professionals?
The mission of Regenesys Business School is to awaken the potential of individuals and organisations. The unique value proposition of Regenesys is that it offers holistic education that focuses on the power of the individual to make a change in society, and it does so through world-class learning programmes.
By being able to offer perspectives from three leading emerging markets Regenesys makes programmes available that help individuals conquer the fears that limit them from achieving their potential, and that inspires and transforms organisations. It prides itself on being the business school with heart and soul.
In addition Regenesys offers world-class learning programmes that include the coveted MBA, postgraduate and undergraduate programmes in management and leadership. In addition, we have top international lecturers, an ability to study in leading emerging markets, and an internationally recognised qualification with 100,000 alumni in 195 countries.
Regenesys has an innovative integrated learning platform that allows you to study online with access to live-streamed lecturers, videos, study guides, top research articles and research databases and a community of students that are active, vibrant and willing to engage in debate and learning.
Regenesys is organising an event on: Building and Sustaining Global Competitive Advantage in Nigeria. What is the event all about and what do you hope to achieve?
As part of our commitment to delivering a world-class educational experience, and in addition to previous learning experiences of MIT and Stanford, Regenesys Business School now brings a renowned Harvard Business School professor to our learners, alumni members and clients in Nigeria. This is a lifetime opportunity to receive a Harvard experience at a fraction of the cost and without having to travel to the USA.
Harvard Professor Casadesus-Masanell will share insights on competitive strategy trends and models that will assist organisations to outperform their competitors and achieve sustainable global competitive advantage.
The issue of competitive strategy is high on the agenda of any leader of any organisation. There are limited resources and many priorities and the choice of strategy will determine success in the marketplace. By drawing on one of the top minds in this field the attendee will be able to get insight into ways to structure their approach to the market.
Which segments of Nigerian businesses and professionals are your target for this event?
Any Nigerian business and a wide segment of professionals can benefit from this event.
The primary target group includes CEOs, senior managers, middle managers, and everyone involved in strategy development and execution from the private, public and non-profit sectors.
Why is it so significant that a professor from Harvard Business School will be presenting?
Regenesys seeks to bring cutting-edge knowledge to its participants. We certainly have
leading experts on the continent but it is rare that we can bring someone like Professor Ramon Casadesus-Masanell who is the Herman C. Krannert Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He is well recognised and published in the area of competitive strategy.
The cost of going to Harvard itself will be costly to many – so we believe that by bringing the knowledge locally we are opening access to many that could not otherwise benefit from this learning.
Who are other local and international experts expected at the event?
Apart from Professor Casadesus-Masanell, I will be facilitating a session on strategy execution at the event. In addition, we will have four or five Nigerian business executives, who as members of a discussion panel, will share their experiences in relation to the subject form a local perspective. They represent different industry groups, including financial services,
manufacturing, services as well as the SME sector.
How affordable are your programmes in terms of cost?
The cost of accessing a top international speaker is very high and costs tens of thousands of dollars. Regenesys sees the opportunity to lower the cost for delegates by bringing the speaker here, making it possible for more to attend and sparing delegates from having to travel extensively. In essence, making the learning experience more accessible to people that would otherwise not have had access.
Regenesys academic programmes are priced to offer superior value compared to many international programmes. An international education can easily cost more than $20,000 annually. Regenesys offers the same high quality international programmes, often at half the cost you would pay to learn in other countries.
The school can do this because its cost base is in emerging markets, which also makes its programmes more relevant, as it is designed to address real challenges being faced in those markets.
Regenesys is a recent entrant into Nigeria. What is the attraction of this emerging market (Nigeria) and how does that relate to the event?
Regenesys is passionate about Nigeria and it entered Nigeria based on the interest that it received in its programmes from Nigerians. It decided however to build its business with a local team and as such Regenesys sees itself as much a Nigerian company as a global company. We all realise that we need a generation of inspired individuals to transform the continent and Nigeria has the potential to be a world-class economy, polity and a leading contributor to the transformation of West and Central Africa, and the continent at large. To do this will require inspired leadership and we can learn a lot from others that have done this before. We can benefit from the wisdom and knowledge of others that have gone before us. This event will share insights and models from others that have gone before us – in an effort to craft and enhance our own approach that will assist in positioning the country ahead of the curve in development and leadership.
What international perspective will Regenesys be bringing to this event with its operations in India and South Africa?
We often find that companies choose to compete in their local markets, and that
international strategy is an essential component of competitive strategy. This programme will naturally look at the issue of growth and growth is dependent on different markets.
As the same programme is being run by Professor Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Dr Marko Saravanja in India and South Africa – they can share the learnings from these
markets.
Regenesys has first hand experience in operating in these different countries and as such adds an international perspective to all its programmes.
As the founder of Regenesys, what is the vision behind the company and how have you maintained standards as you grow and expand rapidly?
Regenesys’ vision has always been to be the leading school of management and leadership in the world. A big part of that vision is that you will only be leading if your programmes are of the highest quality, you have passionate and dedicated lecturers and staff and growth and expansion is done sustainably through
focusing of key success factors.
Regenesys is uncompromising on quality and as such we bring the highest quality and standards into all aspects of our operations as is witnessed by our many academic accreditations, including being one of the few academic institutions globally that maintain an ISO 9001 quality standard across our business.
Global expansion, both physically and virtually, has certainly forced us to keep improving our programmes and delivery but we have been doing this now for some time and we believe that we are well poised to grow into new markets sustainably.
Will this morph into an annual event in Nigeria?
Regenesys is aiming to bring through a series of lecturers from leading institutions across the world on a similar basis and to serve as a platform for engaging with these top personalities.