Becoming a nation of outward investors requires investment in capacity building, says Fawole

Regenesys Business School is a leading global school of management and leadership development, educating students from over 185 countries across the world. Ahead of its Competitive Strategy training programme billed to hold in Lagos on Friday, May 15, the Country Manager, Mr. Supo Fawole says the event would share perspectives on challenges of the Nigerian economy and building personnel with competitive skills required to thrive in the market place.  

AS a new entrant in Nigeria, how has the reception been and how prepared are you for the competition in Lagos Business School? Regenesys has made a remarkable impact thus far and there is growing recognition of the school.

A number of students have started studying on our international programmes and there is a growing interest in our executive education short courses and international speaker events.

In terms of competing, we have to recognize that the task of education in Nigeria is large enough for there to be more than one provider and by offering choices, we are empowering many that may prefer a different style or perspective in learning.

How tailored is your curriculum to the local business environment and how have you captured Nigeria’s diverse business challenges in some of your case studies? The Regenesys curriculum is based on addressing the key drivers for a large number of organisations, ranging from small businesses to mega-corporations.

Naturally, we draw on the experience of our local facilitators to contextualise the learning and to share learning of people in class to assist with giving a wide perspective. Learning about business and management with its many sub-disciplines that include marketing, strategy, finance, operations management, human resources and many more, requires a person to improve both in understanding what are best practices and how to apply these to their environment.

We address this through our facilitation style, reading material supplied and working with learners to find ways to apply it to their context. What value can a business school offer in an environment like Nigeria where most people believe they know it all and are often unwilling to change the way they run businesses? Any business that chooses to only use a “business as usual” approach will soon find itself out of business.

We constantly need to refresh our knowledge, gain new perspectives, explore growth strategies and design our entry into new markets.

Nigeria is changing and the progressive businesses know that they need to build skills. This is why you will find that most of the businesses in Nigeria that are growing are sending their senior executives to international schools to learn and apply methods from other markets in Nigeria.

Therefore, the value that a business school can bring is that it links people to different approaches, best practices and provides a forum for people to network in a learning environment.

Regenesys helps individuals conquer their fears and opens up opportunities that would have otherwise been inaccessible. Regenesys also gives you the tools to move ideas from concepts through to viable strategies and executing these in a controlled way.

It links you to a network of people that are like-minded and that can assist in building both collective and individual success. What is the vision behind setting up the Lagos office given that it is the only office in sub-Saharan Africa besides South Africa? Our vision is to offer locally relevant education and to service a massive and growing need for high quality management and leadership education in Nigeria.

We have students in most Sub-Saharan countries but we believe that Nigeria is a key market and we have and continue to invest in these markets because of the likelihood that Nigeria and South Africa will set the pace for the development of the continent.

What do you think is one of the most interesting case studies in the Nigerian business environment over the past 10 years and why? Nigeria itself is the great case study.

As a rapidly transforming country and economy, we can see the rise of individuals – but the real question is how will the Nigerian business define itself and leave its mark on the markets it enters? We certainly see a lot of companies that are pushing out beyond the borders but the question remains how we will build our country from a competitive strategy point of view.

Nigeria is getting a lot of attention from investors. However, there also seem to be many misconceptions about the opportunities in this market especially in the U.S as more Chinese, South African and European companies enter the country.

What insights could this event shed on this issue? The Nigerian market is complex both due to the operating challenges, local skills, the size and distribution of the market as well as complex distribution challenges. It however has a lot of potential that is recognised by investors.

We have to, however, also start changing our mindset from having to fully depend on external investors, to enabling ourselves to be a net outward investor and to invest in our own capacities, while developing new markets.

This workshop will likely share some perspectives on how we can look at the competitive landscape differently and make a positive impact on Nigeria into the future.