Regenesys has plans for global expansion

Regenesys, the Sandton-based private education group which includes Regenesys Business School, hopes to grow into a full-scale university. Co-founder and chair Marko Saravanja says the group, which includes schools of finance, public management, education and technology, also intends to reduce its reliance on SA.

It now earns about 90% of its revenue in SA. “In two to three years, it will be less than 50% and, longer term, 20%,” Saravanja says. “We realised a long time ago the need to go international. We are very concerned about the future of SA. My role now within Regenesys is to grow the brand globally.”

Besides SA, Regenesys already has campuses in Nigeria and India. The next focus of expansion is likely to be the US, where Saravanja says he is considering the purchase of a college and establishment of an IT company to develop Regenesys’s technology capabilities.

Law, nursing and psychology are among the additional subjects the new university would specialise in. Business school academic dean Sibongiseni Kumalo says: “There are a lot of things we need to do to build a university, but there is a clear market need for such an institution.”

Saravanja says up to 90% of the university’s education would be online. Because of Covid, that’s already the proportion of online teaching offered by the business school. As with other schools, face-to-face classroom teaching has taken a back seat.

Many executive education clients don’t want to go back to the old routine. While they recognise the benefits of personal interaction, this is balanced out by the convenience of online teaching.

COO Indherani Reddy says: “Two years ago, online was considered a substandard education. Now that there is a better understanding of the role it plays, many companies are addicted to it.”

There is also a different attitude to personal relationships. After nearly two years of the semi-isolation of working from home, employees — and their managers — are having to learn to reconnect with others in a work environment. It’s not always straightforward.

Fortunately, says Saravanja, Regenesys, with its founding principles of emotional and spiritual connectivity, is well placed to help companies deal with personal issues. Leaders, particularly, need these skills. “Companies need a cultural realignment,” he says.

Not everyone is uncomfortable with the return to work.  Kumalo says: “We are creatures of habit. We default to what we know.” Reddy adds: “As human beings, we thrive on contact.”