readmore – Ride21

In the UK, Regent Global operates Regent College London (RCL), a higher education institution offering undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in partnership with a number of UK universities and organisations. Selva and Tharshiny are also in the final stages of creating a state-of-the-art new British university, Regent Hill London (RHL) subject to approval, with an emphasis on a mindset shift to unleash human natural intelligence. RHL will launch in September 2026 offering a premium MBA. Regent European University, a fully digital institution, opened in San Marino in 2025 with Selva as Rector and Tharshiny CEO. A further digital university in the United States – Regent American University – will launch in 2026.

In Dubai, Regent Institute Middle East (RIME) is a Technical and Vocational Education and Training centre. In 2024, Regent Global acquired Gulf Indian High School (GIHS), one of the oldest schools in the state, established in 1979. RCL launched University Study Centre in Dubai with INTO University Partnerships in 2025. Regent Global is planning a new K-12 British curriculum school with one of the UK’s leading independent schools, Woldingham. RCL Mumbai launched in March 2026 and RCL Malta will open in 2026.

Regent Global’s activities also include the following ventures.

Regent Real Estate works in residential and commercial property development and investments in the UK, UAE and beyond.
Regent Investment Management (RIM) is a boutique investment firm with share investments and an outsourcing management company.
Regent Lifestyle Dubai is a lifestyle and business services company dedicated to making life in the UAE seamless, enjoyable and rewarding. Its services include real estate and tourism.
Regent Global is working towards establishing a Dubai Global Forum (DGF) to become an economic bridge between Dubai and global markets.
Regent Global is setting up businesses to make the most of new technologies. Regent Imagination Design and Execution 21 (Ride21) is a series of innovation hubs in global tech hotspots such as London, New York, San Francisco and Dubai, where brilliant minds come together to tackle real world challenges using the latest technology, including AI. AI Regent plc focuses on how organisations can use AI.
Regent Talent Exchange (RTX) kickstarts careers through J-1 visas to the USA.

Tharshiny and Selva are entrepreneurs who value lifelong learning. Tharshiny was Academic Registrar at RCL until 2024 and Selva has written several books and courses to help students and adults achieve success. Selva holds an MBA and went to London Business School followed by Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School as part of his executive education. Under Tharshiny and Selva’s leadership, RCL has become a beacon of educational excellence; 90% of students expressed satisfaction with the teaching quality on their course in the Office for Students’ 2025 National Student Survey, exceeding the England benchmark of 87%.

Regent Global’s approach to education is different; the ethos, the end result of education is character, underpins everything that Regent Global does. Selva and Tharshiny believe in maximising innate human potential – Natural Intelligence™ – while embracing the opportunities offered by advances in technology. Selva has developed a series of transformational educational programmes as a result of his studies, in particular what he learned at Harvard Business School and Stanford University, California. These programmes and supporting books (Thinking into Character, The Power of Learning from DAD, The Mindset and The Science of Natural Intelligence and Selva’s synopsis of Napoleon Hill’s book Think and Grow Rich) help people to develop their character and attitude. They show what we can achieve when we tap into our natural intelligence and cultivate the right mindset.

By innovating and leading in education, Selva and Tharshiny aim to create a more prosperous and equitable future for all in the UK and globally. They work to drive societal progress and believe that this needs collective action from both the private sector and governments. They have supported the Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Award for many years and, from October 2023, led work to secure the future of the DofE International Award through the Sustainability 70 Steering Group (SG70). Since 2017, Tharshiny and Selva have worked to foster peace between the Sri Lankan Tamil and Sinhala community in UK. What started as the Sri Lankan Unity Dinner is now a Global Unity Dinner (GUD) that promotes harmony, with the ultimate goal of preventing conflict worldwide. The Pankaj Foundation brings together the Pankaj’s philanthropic activities and other projects of importance to the family outside of Regent Global. As well as SG70 and GUD these include the Universities Global Challenge, an annual prize supporting human-centred AI research, to be presented at World Governments Summit and the Future of Education, a programme to integrate natural intelligence and artificial intelligence as part of India Global Forum.

In 2024, their work towards sustainable development was recognised by the World Economic Forum (WEF) with Regent Global joining the Forum and becoming a new champion. In November 2025 Regent Global won the WEF New Champions Community Choice award. Selva attended the World Governments Summit in Dubai in 2025, as a panel member and strategic partner. Tharshiny and Selva are patrons of the British Asian Trust and supporters of Esharelife Foundation. In July 2025, Selva joined the JA Worldwide Global Council.

Selva and Tharshiny have received a number of awards, including being named in the GG2 Power List in 2024 and the Asian Power Couple Hot 100 List in 2019. They appeared in the Asian Rich List 101 Wealthiest Asians in 2024 and again in 2025. Tharshiny was named Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2025 Burj CEO Awards in Dubai and also received the Social Entrepreneur of the Year award at the 2025 GG2 Leadership and Diversity Awards, having won CEO of the Year at the same awards in 2024. In 2020, Tharshiny was a runner-up for the prestigious Asian Women of Achievement Award in the Entrepreneur category. Selva was awarded Business Person of the Year at the 2025 Asian Achievers Awards and Visionary Business Leader of the Year at the British Asians Who’s Who Awards 2025, Forward Thinking CEO at the Burj CEO Awards 2025, Entrepreneur of the Year at the British Sri Lankan Awards 2023, Businessman of the Year at the London Asian Business Awards 2019 and Entrepreneur of the Year at the Asian Achievers Awards 2016. Selva was recognised in the Top 100 Influential People list 2024 and 2025. In 2022, Regent Global was included in the Times Top 100 for being one of the fastest-growing education companies in the UK and was ranked 45th in FEBE’s Growth 100 list for 2023. Regent Global won the GG2 ED&I Award for Excellence in Education in 2023. Selva and Tharshiny have both been awarded honorary degrees in recognition of their contributions to education: Selva has received four honorary doctorates in the last decade for his contribution to education in the UK, USA and Mexico and was awarded an honorary professorship by REU in 2025. Tharshiny was awarded an honorary doctorate by REU the same year.

Regent Global is a family business; Selva and Tharshiny’s eldest daughter Sharanie leads the next generation Regent Global team and their youngest daughter Dharanie has also joined the business on a part-time basis while she completes her university studies.