"We Give People the Opportunity of Free Business Education" - Regenesys' Executive Chairperson

Regenesys Business School is one of the leaders in its field in Southern Africa, who has, for over 15 years, educated over 75,000 students. In a recent conversation, the Executive Chairperson for Regenesys, Dr. Marko Saravanja, gave insights as to why the school was expanding its roots to Nigeria.

Dr. Marko Saravanja, Executive Chairperson, Regenesys Business School

Q: Can we meet you formally?

Marko Saravanja: I am the Executive Chairperson for Regenesys Business School, which is a Higher Education Institution based in Sandton, Johannesburg. We offer online learning programmes, Contact learning programmes, Executive education and in Nigeria we are launching free online Business Education.

Q: What are the benefits of running a free online business education?

Marko Saravanja: The business model on which this initiative is based in similar to the model on which Google, Facebook and LinkedIn operate – it is called ‘freemium’ business model. We give all our learning material for free and we have a lot of students on our portal from over 100 countries from all over the world. Higher education was traditionally accessible to a few privileged with a lot of money. Free Online Education Initiative provides now access to higher education and knowledge to every human being in the world.

Q: What are the ranges of courses you offer?

Marko Saravanja: We offer four programmes – MBA Degree, Bachelors’ Degree in Business Administration, Certificate programmes and First Graduate Diploma. In addition to that we have about fifty short skills programmes for entrepreneurs such as project management, entrepreneurship, financial management, HR management, policy development, monitoring and evaluation, professional business writing skills, mentoring and coaching, and many other specialised management and leadership development courses.

Q: As you know, Lagos State is the economy hub of the country; do you intend to have your office in Lagos or Port Harcourt?

Marko Saravanja: We are going to have our office in Lagos. We will, however, have a partnership with the Port Harcourt School of Management and Economics. They are going to be our local partner, we will soon commence running courses at the institution, but our headquarters will be in Lagos.

Q: What qualification will be used in admitting prospective candidates? Is there a minimum entry yardstick?

Marko Saravanja: The standard requirement is basically one degree below. We will admit candidates with a minimum entry equivalent. For example, if you want to do an MBA, you need to have an honours degree or postgraduate diploma, and if you want a postgraduate diploma you must have a first degree.

Q: In the face of a competitive market, what extra value is Regenesys Business School offering?

Marko Saravanja: The major value we are adding is that we give people the opportunity of free education, by allowing them to study and get knowledge for free, encouraging them to experience our learning material and processes, including e-books which are provided by Pearson. Regenesys delivers this free education initiative in partnership with Pearson, which is the biggest educational company in the world.

The way the module works is that people get materials for free, but if they decide to do examination and receive certification, then they have to pay for it. Examination on higher education level cannot be automated and provided for free as human resources are required to mark examinations.

Knowledge helps people to develop their skills, increase their self-confidence and to basically change their life, but qualification allows people to get promotions and earn more money. So, students who decide to obtain qualification change from non-paying to paying students.

When students register and pay course fees to Regenesys, at that point we pay Pearson for their textbooks. In South Africa we partnered with Government, Pearson, Sunday Times, Internet Solutions, and Institute of People Management, to deliver free online business education to all people of South Africa.

We launched our free education initiative in November last year in South Africa and now we have thousands of students from hundred and ten countries across the world. This initiative is spreading very fast and rapidly. Any small business owner can now get knowledge on how to run their business better, how to manage finances, develop strategic plans, manage people, utilise technology, and improve marketing and sales. Any person in Nigeria who wants to study a Bachelors’ Degree can enroll for free and study even if they don’t have any money and leave in rural area. They can pay later on when they are ready for examination and certification. It is ‘study-as-you-go’ model where students can study and still be able do have a part time job.

Business professionals can enrol on MBA and either study all modules or pick up some modules which are relevant to their development needs.

Q: You have launched your free education initiative in over a hundred countries across the world; does a friendship network exist?

Marko Saravanja: Yes, a network does exist, so when you are studying online you study with people from America, Australia, China, Africa, Europe and India. Students can participate in chat groups, forums, seminars. They have access to high quality textbooks, learning videos, webinars, seminars, academic articles, electronic library, study guides, examples of assignments and examinations and much more.

Q: Can you acquaint us with some of the countries that Regenesys Business School is already operating in?

Marko Saravanja: We started the free education initiative about seven months ago. For fifteen years we have delivered contact learning at Regenesys. Seven years ago we decided to invest in development of online education. We realised that technology was going to revolutionise and dramatically change education systems. Online education is improving quality of education and reducing costs. Basically I can watch Warren Buffet or Bill Gates or Tom Peters or any business guru on YouTube for free. However, if we were to get Tom Peters here physically, it would cost hundreds of thousands dollars for few hours of his time. That is the amazing thing about technology. We could not do this twenty years ago. Thanks to the internet and Regenesys donation of intellectual property and learning material, which enable us to give this knowledge to everyone in the world. There is also a spiritual principle that says “when you give freely and unconditionally, you receive abundantly”, which is very relevant in the business world.

We took a big risk last year by opening up all our intellectual property that we have built and developed for fifteen years, and offered four online learning programmes for free. There was a risk of people not enrolling on Regenesys paid-for online and contact learning programmes, but the very opposite happened as more people enrolled on our paid-for programmes.

We realised that if we have a hundred million students studying for free that we will become the next Facebook or LinkedIn. Our vision is to expand free education from business education to primary education and other disciplines like engineering, law and psychology. It is a big vision. We realised that we cannot do this alone and needed to partner with other companies, like Pearson, government departments, media and technology and telecommunication companies.

We are in the process of forming local partnerships in Nigeria with some of the largest telecommunications, financial services, petroleum and media companies. Access to knowledge, funding, and telecommunication is a very powerful combination that can help any business to improve or person to develop.

Q: In terms of Government support, is it coming at the federal or state level and what is the expectation like?

Marko Saravanja: We have invited government to endorse this initiative. The purpose of this initiative is to offer free business education to all Nigerians. Everyone will benefit from this, including the Government. Only through education we can resolve the problems of unemployment, poverty, wars, diseases, discrimination, suffering and injustice.

Regenesys free online business education technology puts the University in person’s palm. People can download Regenesys free app and study via their smartphones, tablets, PCs, online or offline.

Q: in the next five to ten years, where do you see Regenesys in Nigeria?

Marko Saravanja: Regenesys will make a difference in the lives of millions of people in Nigeria, by providing them business education and development opportunities to develop themselves, their businesses, families and the country. Traditionally, education was only for the few privileged, people had to spend so much money to go and study abroad. Thanks to internet and Regenesys free learning programmes, we can now offer high quality education for free to people in Nigeria, Africa and anywhere in the world. . This is a revolution in education.

When people go abroad to study, they end up not coming back. The developed countries have really being exploiting Africa in terms of human resources. First of all they are charging them a lot of money for education, for example an MBA from top USA business school can cost up to half a million dollars. However, the same degree can be offered online for fraction of the cost.

Regenesys’ purpose is awakening human potential. We believe that every human being has greatness within, which is blocked by fears, self-limiting beliefs and inferiority complexes. Through our education, we facilitate awakening of human potential. In addition to rational intelligence or IQ, we develop emotional and spiritual intelligence.

Q: How will you measure the amount of investment you are putting into Nigeria?

Marko Saravanja: In terms of technology, we have invested about ten million US dollars in developing technology, learning materials and getting accreditation for online learning. We are opening an office in Nigeria and mobilizing partners, and we are committed to investing in Nigeria’s education system.