From £100 to Global Impact: Selva Pankaj on Building Regent Global My parents couldn't fund my education, so instead of university I enrolled in a chartered accountancy course. That choice gave me not just professional qualifications, but resilience, says Selva Pankaj, co-founded Regent College London

When Selva Pankaj stepped off the plane in London as a refugee, he had just £100 in his pocket. His family, once comfortable, had lost everything in the Sri Lankan Civil War. "I had no safety net," he recalls. "My parents couldn't fund my education, so instead of university I enrolled in a chartered accountancy course. That choice gave me not just professional qualifications, but resilience." It was his father's belief—"we become what we think about"—that shaped Pankaj's early mindset. Struggle, he says, taught him to spot hidden opportunities and pursue them relentlessly.

From kitchen table to global classrooms

Regent Global began humbly at his kitchen table, where Pankaj tutored students for £20 an hour. The principle was simple: help people achieve more. That ethos still drives Regent Global today. Regent College London (RCL) now serves students of all ages, with flexible programs designed for working adults. "Two-thirds of our students are over 30," Pankaj notes. "Education should fit around life." The same vision is now scaling globally. Regent European University in San Marino launched in 2025 as a fully digital institution. We are also developing a US-based online university initiative, with details to be shared following regulatory processes. New learning centres are opening in Dubai, India, and Malta. Across every market, the mission remains education without barriers of time, place, or circumstance.

Banking lessons, bold moves

Before Regent, Pankaj worked at Prudential, Schroders, Fortress, and Grosvenor. "Banking taught me how to calculate risk with precision," he explains. "At Regent, I've learned when to take leaps of faith." Those leaps are evident. In 2024, Regent acquired Gulf Indian High School, one of Dubai's oldest schools, and is expanding its capacity. The group is also opening a British curriculum K–12 school in partnership with Woldingham School, one of the UK's most prestigious independents. At the same time, Regent is betting big on technology. Its digital universities are fully online, and AI Regent is exploring how artificial intelligence can reshape learning.

Despite spanning education, real estate, technology, and investments, Regent Global is tied together by one word: impact. "We call it One Regent," says Pankaj. "The values we started with 25 years ago—service, integrity, character—remain central." Many of his team have been with him from the beginning, carrying those values into new ventures worldwide. Leadership is shared with his wife and joint CEO, Tharshiny Pankaj, ensuring alignment across businesses. "An organisation reflects its leaders," he says.

Building beyond borders

Global expansion is guided not by geography, but by partnerships. "We look for like-minded partners who share our vision," Pankaj explains. In Dubai, close collaboration with regulators has fueled Regent's rapid growth. Real estate investments, too, support Regent's mission. The upcoming Pankaj House campus, set to open in 2026/27 in Harrow, will be both a world-class learning space and a community anchor.

By the end of the decade, Pankaj en visages Regent European University and our US-based online university initiative as leaders in digital higher education, Gulf Indian High School and Wolding ham Dubai among the top schools in their regions, and Regent Hill University (subject to approval) in its final stages of launch. Meanwhile, AI Regent will expand far beyond Regent's own ecosystem, offering personalised learning tools worldwide.