'Co-working' takes off: More young entrepreneurs sharing offices
More and more young entrepreneurs and employees from across industries are sharing space and amenities
Purchase this article for republication
Buy SPH photos
It is 10am and Ms Nadia Albahar turns up for work at a shophouse in Joo Chiat. She says hello to Mr Francis Teo - seated at another desk - but they do not work for the same company.
Mr Teo is the director of Bluelambda, a boutique online marketing firm, while she is in business development with Activistar, an online store that aims to work directly with manufacturers to bring their products to the market.
Welcome to the world of co-working, a new buzzword in Singapore where folk from across industries share space and amenities.
Background story
WHAT IS CO-WORKING?
Definition:
Co-working is a business model where individuals work independently or as a collaboration in a shared office space.
Such spaces typically attract work-at-home professionals, freelancers, or people who travel frequently and work in relative isolation.
It can be seen as a social gathering of a group of people, who work independently, but who share values, and are interested in the synergy that can happen.
Origin:
Co-working emerged in the late 1990s among the tech crowd. The term was coined by American game designer Bernie DeKoven in 1999.
But after the dot.com bust, the idea sputtered and lost its footing.
Around 2005, co-working was revived by a former software engineer at Google, Mr Brad Neuberg. He popularised the basic model and organised a site called the Hat Factory in San Francisco, a live-work loft that was home to three technology workers, and open to others during the day.
He also co-founded Citizen Space, the first work-only co-working space that spawned the global movement of today. Now, there are over 400 such co-work facilities worldwide.
San Francisco continues to have a large co-working community, and is home to a growing number.
How it works:
Co-working facilities follow different business models.
Some are cooperatively managed spaces run as non-profit organisations. They may charge members just enough to support operations.
Others include flat-rate memberships and fee structures based on access for a single visit or a certain number of days a week, month or year.
Often, a co-working facility will offer a number of options to suit individual needs.
In the past two years, about 10 co-work spaces have opened here. The set-up could be housed in a factory, a loft or, in the case of Cowork@SG, a two- storey shophouse in Joo Chiat. Cowork@SG, for example, offers 20 desk spaces, a long meeting table, a pantry, free Wi-Fi and, if you are hungry, a putu piring (steamed rice cake with a centre of melted palm sugar) stall around the corner.
