The startup trend has picked up in Pakistan since last few years, a lot of incubators are also coming up to have these new born companies in their incubation centers and provide them with guidance and a place/office where they can carry out their business activities. But not all the startups go to these incubators, neither all of the them are selected to be incubated.. still they need some place where they can sit and focus on their work. They cannot rent a space and pay heavy rents as they are still trying to setup, not until their business get profitable. Besides startups, there’s a lot bigger community of freelance workers who also needs some kind of space where they can concentrate and work. That’s where the co-working spaces come to your rescue!
“Co-working is a style of work that involves a shared working environment, often an office, and independent activity. Unlike in a typical office environment, those co-working are usually not employed by the same organization. Typically it is attractive to work-at-home professionals, independent contractors, or people who travel frequently who end up working in relative isolation”, says Wikipedia.
Also, the Global Co-working Survey 2012, conducted online, says that a co-working space increase creativity and improve standard of work. The participants of the survey have even termed co-working spaces as fun, friendly, creative, inspiring, productive, flexible, social and collaborative.
IDG team talked to CEO of one of these Co-working spaces called CO Pakistan, situated in Karachi, which happens to be a startup itself.
CEO of Co Pakistan, Khizra Munir tells,
“Co is a fully equipped co-working space where we’ve put ourselves in the place of a potential member. We’ve created a secure, creative looking environment, fully equipped with all the multimedia you’ll need for work, a boardroom for meetings, an area for you to unwind on the breaks you should take, and even a loft for naps. And since you’re possibly going to be working here for a long period of time, there’s also a menu that provides you affordable and filling meals. Also we haven’t forgotten the recharge fuel; chai and coffee.”
Everyone has access to CO, having any professional background; CO aims to bring together a good mix of people and to create a healthy and inspiring community. They are particularly targeting freelancers who don’t have the luxury of an office or even a proper work space, and find working from home or cafes lonely. They’re also open to small sized start ups of up to 4-5 members.
The Inspiration
“We all used to work in boring and uninspiring looking offices”, says Khizra, “and we all have mentally designed our dream offices. Then we all transitioned out and tried new things and work that didn’t involve an office. We have worked in cafes but couldn’t control the noise of people there, it’s a public place after all. We have worked from home but kept getting distracted by chores or being too comfortable. We even tried other co working spaces but with our experience working in similar spaces abroad, we felt that they didn’t deliver the right kind of experience; the experience of working in an inspiring space with inspiring people, where work doesn’t feel like a chore, the freedom to take a break and unwind and the feeling of not being in a boring office. So one day we decided to go from day dreamers to do-ers as far as an ideal work space is concerned.”
On a Mission of Being Enablers
By definition, co-working is about collaborative working; about being in the same space as likeminded people, interacting, exchanging ideas and coming together for collaborations. According to Khizra, other co-working spaces are doing a good job of providing suitable spaces that cater to one’s professional needs but CO is trying to fill in the gap left by other Co-working spaces i.e. the co-working experience because this is the difference between working from home or working out of a cafe. “That sense of community we offer and that ability to network. We want our members to feel like they belong. We don’t want them tip toeing through CO like you’d do at another office. We want them to look forward to coming to work. And we want to be enablers for great ideas being born”, explains Khizra.
Talking about the future plans for CO Pakistan Khizra shares, “We’ve got lots of plans in the pipeline. Even though we’re a members only space, we want to create opportunities for non-members to come experience the space. This includes community events on weekends organized by us or even by others provided the activity falls in line with our brand and ideology. And if we don’t have an event planned, CO will be open to everyone on Saturdays. This again let’s non-members come experience the space and see if they would like to commit to a longer relationship.”
Supporting the Startup Culture
“We’ve never been surer of our decision to create Co.”, answers Khizra, “We’ve been watching and observing the upcoming start up culture and independent freelancers doing their own thing, and through an understanding of the needs and the gaps, we wanted to be a constructive part of helping these people grow.
That’s why we’re hoping to do our part. We’re excited about collaborations arising out of CO and we’re even willing to back them up. We’re not just encouraging start-ups; we’re hoping to put our money on it. We’re keeping a very open mind here and unlike most incubators, we don’t want to limit it to just tech solutions.”
