‘I am passionate about seeing other people learn and grow’

JUANITA BOUWER, Global CEO, Business School Netherlands, in this interview with KELECHI EWUZIE, highlights the importance of Action Learning Programme to the development of world-class employees and organisations. Excerpts:

Motivation

There is only one thing that drives me and that is seeing other people grow. The fact that other people grow and get promotion, expand their own knowledge and are better off, for me, is my reward for doing what I do.

Career path

I was headhunted by Business School Netherlands. Before then I worked for a publisher. I went to do supplies to Business School Netherlands. I wanted to be their sole supplier. After our meeting the owner of the business school called me and offered me a job in the school.

One thing that I am passionate about is seeing other people learn and grow. I started in Business School Netherlands as a finance and admin manager for the international operation. Later I was seconded to the South African school to go and head it and implement a registry in South Africa. I did the project. At the point of doing that project, we started delivering gross bounding to Lesotho and we gained experience in gross bounding deliveries. So we didn’t just do so in the Netherlands, we were doing gross bounding in South Africa and Lesotho.

In 2003 Nigeria came online, so it was natural progression to put the expansion of Nigeria than with South Africa because of the language barrier. So in 2003 Nigeria started and I headed up the operations in Nigeria.

I was looking after the South Africa school as the general manager and I was heading up the operation of the international entities. I did that for many years, and then we grew to 15 partners and did well in international expansion.

Nigeria and business School prospects 

Nigeria is a major centre of the 15 locations worldwide where we have Business School Netherlands offering the unique Action Learning pedagogy in business management education and it is a pleasure to visit this important African country at this particular time.

I am impressed by how passionate Nigerians are in pursuit of their goals for personal and collective advancement. There is a growing interest in Nigeria by Business School Netherlands. We are looking at greater collaboration with Nigeria in solving Africa’s economic and leadership challenges using our unique Action Learning approach in preparing future generations for a better life.

We expect that the managers and specialists who train using our Action Learning methodology would apply their practical learning to solving problems in their various workplaces and accelerating productivity. Higher productivity of all resources is critical for enhancing development in Nigeria. As several authorities have noted, when we get development right in Nigeria, we have got it right in Africa.

That brings me to the issue of the response of the Nigerian market to the BSN Action Learning MBA. I want to express our deep gratitude and the great encouragement we feel because of the enthusiastic response of Nigerian companies to our programmes and products. We are greatly encouraged by the companies who have been sending us more students every year following the work of those who preceded them. It indicates acceptance of our programmes.

Our Executive MBA programme remains the flagship product in our portfolio of programmes aimed at growing manpower in the workplace. Our programme continues to receive enhancements including, as our Nigeria CEO disclosed in January, the need for our students to spend some time in the BSN main campus in Netherlands. Every student enrolled in Nigeria enjoys for the current cost of the programme an embedded 50 percent discount.

We have done so to encourage our students and to ensure that cost is not so much of a deterrent given the benefit of the programme to our target audience, being mid to senior level executives in business, institutional or government work interested in acquiring knowledge not for certification sake but to make positive and better contribution to their workplaces.

We have also introduced in Nigeria function-specific programmes of short duration based on the Action Learning pedagogy. Uptake for this programme has been particularly impressive as we have about 400 persons enrolled in the various courses on offer.

Courses on offer in the Action Learning Management Development Programmes are in Customer Relationship Management, Business Development, Finance for Non-Financial Managers, Human Resource Management, Marketing Management and Risk Management. There are also courses in Operations Management, Six Sigma, Total Quality Management, Heart of Leadership and Human Capital Development. We also have a six-month Management Competence Development Programme.

We have developed these programmes in Nigeria out of the bouquet available within the BSN framework in response to the needs of the market, but the Executive MBA remains our flagship programme.

Leadership style

For my direct team, I will say my leadership style is that of empowering those that work with me and leading them when they are required to be led. I am not the kind of leader that sits around members of my team all the time; they know all what they need to do because they are effective people. It is a bit different depending on the culture you are dealing with. With my style I will say it will be very casual and very hands on.

Prospect

I will specifically like to see the size of enrolment from Nigeria double. BSN Nigeria’s vision is to be a provider of excitingly different learning experiences that enable managers to learn faster than the prevailing rate of change while the mission is to contribute to higher education in management learning; and facilitate the development of African managers’ skills, knowledge, research capabilities and ability to take action with regard to the problems, prospects and challenges facing their own organisations.

We are currently in 15 countries. Looking at three to five years from now, we will like to double that number. We want to spread the Action Learning communities because we know that Action Learning does make a difference.