Mar 15 2024
We met for an interview, with Mario Diel, the Founding Chairman and CEO of London-based, IKAR Holdings.
“Mr. Diel, tell us a little bit about your entrepreneurial journey”
I started my entrepreneurial journey more than 30 years ago when I founded my first company in Germany. Since then I established, run, and exited dozens of companies, active across various sectors and spanning various countries and continents. But most of my career I spent in Türkiye as it’s a hub for the entire region.
“What motivated you to establish IKAR Holdings as your latest endeavor?”
IKAR Holdings is the spin-off of my whole career as an entrepreneur. When I started the company in the midst of a global pandemic, I had the vision not only to accumulate all my experiences, know-how, and global network. I wanted to create a game-changer in the business world.
“What do you mean by creating a game changer?”
I wanted to define business in a different way. As we are heading more and more toward a technology-driven world, I wanted to focus on my company, especially on human capital. This is required to bring humans together which represents the whole business ecosystem. From entrepreneurs to executives, to academics and former government leaders. My vision was to bring them in as my partners and create an entrepreneurial environment where each of them reflects IKAR Holdings as their own company, which would bring more sustainable and long-term success. And I wanted to bring humans in who have the same mindset, and believing that trust and ethos are of utmost importance in any business partnership.
“Your group is very diversified, as you are spanning various sectors. Why has the education sector such a preference for you?”
In today’s business world, everybody is talking about impact. But for me the biggest impact is to invest in the next generation because they are the ones who can change our world to the betterment. And to give them the right tools in hand, investments in education are most important. Giving access to education is the biggest impact driver in the world!
“How do you look into the education sector as of today?”
First of all the whole education sector is changing dramatically. Education is no longer stopping when you leave the University. Humans of all ages are thirsty to continue learning as the world in which we are living requires it in order to compete in a tough business environment. Then we have a huge demand for education in emerging countries. To give you an Idea: if we would establish each day a new University with a capacity of 5.000 students, we could not fulfill the demand until 2050! The future of education will require a hybrid system: it will range from physical Universities to online Universities and after continue with academies, AI Institutes, and more.
“What do you offer, different from the others?”
For us, the education sector is of utmost importance. Therefore we established IKONIC Educational Holding. With our Holding, we want to establish a global education ecosystem. We will have a portfolio of investments in physical Universities, will create our online Universities, focusing as well on continuing education, supporting our students to get jobs through our HR company, and last but not least provide a venture platform where we provide seed capital and mentorship to our smartest students, their ideas and startups. With this, we will enable our students to have access to a global education and take them too, once they leave our Universities!
“Why do you believe your model will be successful?”
I believe we will be successful because we have a different business approach! The team we brought together are successful business people and also successful academicians! We bring the business knowledge to turn all our activities into success from a commercial perspective but at the same time, we bring the best academics who will provide the best in-class education. Our human powerhouse of knowledge and experience, combined with our unique business model, will make us a game changer in the educational world. And as a result, we will have a huge impact on the future life of the next generation!
Thank you for the interview Mr. Diel.
