Business Talk Magazine

“Accessible education to all” is a noble goal, and efforts to make it a reality are making headlines around the world. The widespread emphasis on this reflects the growing focus on the needs of students who have historically received subpar academic support, had their learning needs disregarded, or otherwise “fell through the cracks.” The fact is that a student’s success depends on the expertise of academicians, which makes their role highly critical. And often, their significant contributions aren’t recognized as they should be. 

Taking a progressive step, Business Talk honors the valuable contribution of a brilliant educator, Mr. Firoz Thairinil. He is the founder and CEO of Westford Education Group, one of the top institutes offering accredited international education to aspirants globally. The following article provides a wealth of knowledge about Mr. Thairinil, given he is an educational luminary with the heart of an entrepreneur.

A PASSIONPRENEUR SEEING HIS VISION TAKE SHAPE

Firoz is an academic maven with over a decade of experience through various enterprises of the Westford Education Group. Prior to this, he spent 15 years in the banking sector, stepping down as the National Head of Retail Sales of a prominent bank in Dubai. While he donned multiple hats, Firoz was always an entrepreneur at heart. At 21, he began his 1st venture, but due to lack of experience, he failed miserably. And from there, he repeatedly failed for the next 16 years! But even after such a streak, his resolve was unbroken. As fate would have it, he was unaware of the beautiful future ahead of him.

In 2008, while pursuing an MBA from the University of Wales, he was quite fascinated by the UK’s education system. “The pragmatic approach of the UK higher education system was truly inspiring,” he says. The model promised value-addition and had provisions to make higher education more accessible for working professionals. With a thorough understanding of the prospects, he sought to shape his passion for making education accessible to a larger global community. This thought process eventually led to the inception of the Westford Education Group.

But Firoz was far from being successful. Even though he had shaped a prospective idea, people found it difficult to accept and believe in its services. However, he and his trusted allies focused on providing quality education and investing in technology. “We developed our own student support ecosystem, which became a key differentiator in our journey,” adds Mr. Thairinil. As everything started to fall into place, it won the confidence of its learners and the community. Today, the Westford Education Group operates across 4 continents and educates students from over 200+ countries. Its innate commitment to every student’s welfare and success has been the bedrock of its exponential success over the past 14 years.

LEADING A CHANGE IN ‘QUALITY EDUCATION FOR ALL’

There is a popular saying, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” With Westford, Firoz sought not only to provide quality education but also set a distinct paradigm. At the outset, he realized the conventional educational structure wasn’t tailored for working professionals—a gap he sought to address. To ensure the scalability of services, he leveraged digital technology. The company redesigned the course module, ensuring it had the required flexibility in terms of duration, schedule, content delivery, and fee disbursal to allow for an effective and seamless learning experience for working executives. Today, its learning platforms are equipped with AI and blockchain technology to ensure a seamless and quality learning experience.

Westford currently holds four prominent higher education brands: Westford University College, Exeed College, Eaton Business School, and UniAthena, with courses ranging from the undergraduate to the doctorate level. The courses are delivered through different modes of course delivery: On-site, Synchronous Online, and Asynchronous Online. This January, the group launched free-learning short courses through the UniAthena learning platform. Mr. Thairinil explains, “These are 5-hour to 5-week upskilling courses, which can be accessed free of cost. We currently offer 300+ courses across 10+ domains and 6-course categories. This project is aimed at making quality education freely accessible to all in essence.”

REDEFINING SIMPLICITY

Given the uniqueness of the offerings, it’s clear that Westford Education Group has carved a one-of-a-kind niche. The group was committed to “keeping it simple” from the beginning. “From our learning resources and delivery to the organizational structure and business strategies, we keep it simple and succinct,” adds Mr. Thairinil. The leadership identified the critical things which will be required at different stages of the growth, the ‘must-haves,’ and made certain that they are all placed as planned. This has also helped in keeping its offerings scalable and robust.

The focus on simplicity and innovation helps Westford break new ground in technology adoption. Being meticulous towards innovation has yielded significant results, especially in improving the effectiveness of learning delivery. Firoz believes protocols and processes have predominantly dominated the global education space, which limited the adoption of the latest innovations. But the pandemic has pushed digitalization, driving greater acceptance of newer delivery models. It has also catalysed the sectors’ attention towards the online delivery model, which the market has been historically apprehensive about. 

THE PEOPLE OF WESTFORD GROUP

The Westford Education Group is built on the intersection of innovation and simplicity. And its people constantly nurture and uphold this value. The team comprises innovative thinkers who come up with concepts that are unconventional yet coherent. The management ensures the team has all the tools to experiment and innovate while taking risks as required and learning from failures.

Such an open culture surely instills confidence and drives trust between leaders and associates. Through action and speech, Firoz and the other leaders do everything to empower the team to ensure constructive approach towards failure. This enables the team to be confident and assertive about their decisions and be more open to exploring and unleashing their hidden potential. The coherence between all echelons kept them strong and united to purpose, even in uncertain times like the COVID-19.

CONSTANTLY BURGEONING FORWARD

Firoz’s resolve to see his mission succeed has left many landmarks along the road. Today, Westford Education Group has a strong team, innovative capabilities, and strong leadership—all aligned to make education affordable and accessible to all. In the years to come, they plan to bring 1 million learners onto its UniAthena’s Short Course platform and introduce offerings in different languages. Besides this, they plan to offer undergraduate and high school education.

Firoz also aspires to grow his venture’s innovative offerings, consistently nurture its resources, and continue to make strides in the education sector.

PEARLS OF ADVICE

“Dream it and pursue it diligently. Lots of innovations and solutions never reach the world because of fear of failure. Failures are inevitable, so accept them, learn from them, and keep moving. Treat each of your failures as a new learning experience. Go for dreams which you believe in and are passionate about, something which will truly satisfy you.” 

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