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Proliferation of startups fuels coworking space business
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This picture taken on Sept. 12, 2017 shows entrepreneurs working at the EV-Hive event space, a coworking space, in Jakarta. (Agence France -Presse/Goh Chai Hin)
T
he proliferation of startups and other small, digital-based entities has helped boost the growth of coworking space businesses in major cities like Jakarta and Surabaya.
A number of property developers have also started to pay attention to the high demand for coworking spaces.
PT Intiland Development corporate secretary Theresia Rustandi, whose company is involved in coworking spaces, said the trend to rent small rooms as offices was very high as many types of business entities did not need large rooms for their operations.
“Nearly all rooms are occupied,” said Theresia on Monday as quoted by kontan.co.id, adding that the coworking spaces were needed by small businesses.
Since PT Intiland started the coworking space business called SUB-Co in 2015, it has opened three locations in Surabaya, two of which were located at Whiz Residence Darmo Harapan and at Spazio in West Surabaya.
She said the company eyed startups as its main clients because they needed private rooms for their operations, while for shared spaces the company targeted freelancers.
“For shared spaces, we start prices from Rp 50,000 (US$3.52) per hour, while for private rooms, the rental fees start from Rp 7.5 million per month,” she said.
Theresia said the company had to invest Rp 1 billion to renovate the interior of coworking spaces, which could contribute Rp 200 million per month in revenue.
Theresia said Intiland Development planned to open coworking space businesses in Jakarta, but she could not comment on the details, saying that the company was studying several places for the business.
A similar move was made by property developer PT Ciputra Development. The company is now constructing its third office tower in West Jakarta. “We are constructing the Propan Tower because 60 percent of the building will be bought by the Propan Group,” said Ciputra Development director Artadinata Djangkar.
Ciputra also has two buildings in West Jakarta – Tokopedia Tower and Tokopedia Care, as well as the DBS Tower in the Central Business District in South Jakarta, Artadinata added.
Property analyst Jehansyah Siregar said the coworking space business still had good prospects. “By renting coworking spaces, people can start work with just a laptop,” Jehansyah said.
According to a report of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), the coworking space business grew 60 percent in 2018 while the number of operators grew 8 percent. (bbn)
