"Co-working Spaces are Not Innovations, They are Discoveries" Incuspaze, a chain of co-working spaces launched a new centre in Delhi, WORKSPAZE in collaboration with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)

Till a few years ago, the concept of co-working spaces did not even exist but today it is an idea that is catching the eyes of everyone. They have disrupted the way offices were perceived. They have changed the whole notion of work culture and office environment and truth be told, co-working spaces are a hit among millennials. According to a report, there are almost 500 co-working spaces in India. Moreover, according to a research by CBRE, US$3 billion have been bumped into co-working spaces in the last four years.

Enabling Early-stage Businesses to Grow

In Delhi, itself Innov8 started a league of these new entities and then several others followed. Incuspaze, a chain of co-working spaces launched a new centre in Delhi, WORKSPAZE in collaboration with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). The collaboration is aimed at providing a high functional space for start-ups and MSMEs.

Speaking to Entrepreneur India, Sanjay Chaudhary, Founder & CEO of Incuspaze, said, "We are excited to step into a new avenue. The primary aim to support MSMEs. We believe that this partnership (with SIDBI) will open route of opportunities for new as well as established businesses and working with SIDBI will also give us the reach required." He further added that the launch of this centre within the arena of SIDBI gives them a lot of leverage.

Choudhary feels that people have been categorizing co-working spaces as an industry, "It is not an innovation, it is a discovery. It is a must-have. We are providing a professionally well-managed environment." And this, he feels, is a win-win both for the employee as well as the person owning or leading the company.

Changing the Definition of Work-Space Management

What co-working spaces are doing is basically trying to gain and spread expertise in work-space management. The need already existed but the time is ripe to make it a part of the ecosystem, he says.

Speaking about the collaboration, Mohammad Mustafa, Chairman and MD of SIDBI, said, "During the first 18 months of entrepreneurship journey, an enterprise may face several challenges. At SIDBI we want to handhold entrepreneurs during this period so that they have a smooth ride in their venture."

The centre is set up in over 3000 Sq ft. area and is equipped with over 100 seats including conference, training and meeting rooms. With many early-stage businesses emerging in the Indian business ecosystem, the parallel emergence of such spaces is equally important for them to grow. After launching operations in India, Incuspaze is looking at tracing the boundaries of South India next with the vision of spreading across 30 cities and 8 cities in India and abroad respectively by 2020. The property is equipped with 100 seats priced, starting from, INR5000(for hot desks) up to INR14,500 (for cabin seats).