VISIONARY educationalist and author Selva Pankaj believes in creating success through transforming thinking, habits, and behaviour. Along with his life and business partner Tharshiny Pankaj, he is currently in the final stages of creating a state-of-the-art new British university that will have an emphasis on shifting mindsets to unleash the natural intelligence of humans. Selva and Tharshiny are spearheading Regent Group as a leading global technology enabled education provider. Author of the path-breaking book Thinking into Character, Selva is passionate about the opportunities that technology presents for education when paired with innate human potential.
Selva, along with Tharshiny, created a curriculum at its core something known as natural intelligence – and this is all about figuring oneself out and appreciating the true purpose of life – which he deems “incredibly important” in the light of rising influence of artificial intelligence. Today Regent Group is a global organisation with headquarters in London and New York. In the UK, the group offers education from kindergarten to sixth form, higher education and beyond, as well as courses, online micro credentials, and transformational programmes. Overseas, the group provides education from nursery to sixth form, plus technical and vocational training, offers Thinking into Character masterclasses in the US and operates an Ed Tech start up in Silicon Valley.
Regent Europe an online University is also in the making. Globally, 10,000 students are currently learning with the Regent Group, either directly or through one its joint ventures. Selva’s own journey from arriving in the UK with just £100 as a student to becoming a leading figure in global education and entrepreneurship is a testament to human resilience and the power of positivity. Landing in the UK at the age of 19 from a war-torn Sri Lanka, Selva enrolled on a chartered accountancy course, as his parents were not able to send him to university to do a degree due to lack of funds. “I came as a student in 1990 and the only programme I could afford was chartered accountancy. I qualified in 1993 and was fortunate enough to join the US-based Prudential Financial Inc.” For the next 10 years, Selva worked between New York and London. His career trajectory took him through senior roles in prestigious financial and in vestment institutions, including Prudential, Fortress Investment Group, Schroders, and Grosvenor. However, it was his entrepreneurial spirit that turned out to be his true calling. In 1996, he met Tharshiny who had also come from Sri Lanka under similar circumstances. She graduated from Brunel University where she studied Computer Sciences and was teaching at a sixth form college. The two married in 1998. Soon his parents joined them in the UK and that’s when he started feeling a bit of a financial crunch.
After years of working full-time yet struggling to make ends meet, in 2000, Selva decided to put his educational background to some good use and started giving private tuition for £20 an hour “to balance the books and pay the bills”, thus laying the foundations of Regent Inde pendent College, which later became Re gent Group. Tharshiny also played a large part in the founding of Regent Independent College and has been deeply involved in the day-to-day running of the various businesses and been instrumental in the growth of the Group. The business started to grow rapidly. In his words, “when you look after your customers, the customers will look after you; the key is always operating with honesty and integrity”.
In 2009, he decided to leave investment banking sector (at a time when he was rising up the corporate ladder in a public-listed com pany) to take the role of Regent Group’s CEO, devoting all his time to the institution. He was determined to revolutionise education to unleash human potential through mindset shifts. “I think I did not like the aspects of investment banking of completely going after materi al wealth, impressing the people and clients and leaving the human side,” he said in our in terview last year, while recalling how during Christmas 2008, he took the decision to leave the corporate world forever. In the years that followed, the husband-wife duo worked side by side to build the Regent business. Selva took the role of chief executive while Tharshiny is Regent Group’s global man aging director.
Their commitment to education extends beyond traditional boundaries. Through Thinking into Character learning programmes that they developed, the couple empowers students and adults alike to transform their thinking, habits, and behaviours to achieve success. He says, “obviously, things will go wrong, but if you have a deep desire to do something, your purpose is clear.” He strongly goes by the philosophy that thoughts become things. “If you can see it in your mind, you will hold it in your hand.” A lifelong learner himself, Selva also holds an MBA, studying at London Business School followed by Harvard Business School, Oxford University Saïd Business School, and Stanford Graduate School as part of his executive education. He has been honoured with three honorary doctorates in the last decade for his contribution to education in the UK and US.
Beyond his professional endeavours, Selva is deeply engaged in civic and philanthropic ef forts, working to drive societal change and foster unity within the Sri Lankan diaspora in the UK and beyond. Selva was appointed as Chair of the Duke of Edin burgh’s International Award Sustainability 70 Steering Group. The group is responsible for ensuring the long-term sustainability of the award so that it can enrich the lives of more young individuals, enabling them to realise their potential and make a positive impact on the world through non-formal education. Selva is also a patron of the Prince’s Trust and British Asian Trust, co-founder of the Re gent Global Unity Forum and a supporter of Isha Life Foundation. He also leads a Global Unity forum with emphasis on Sri Lankan diaspora unity in the UK and other western countries. With a passion for music and cricket, it seems that Selva approaches life and business with the strategic mindset of a gamer, recognising the importance of teamwork and resilience in achieving shared goals. By innovating and leading in education, Selva and Tharshiny are seeking to create a more prosperous and equitable future for all in the UK and internationally.