Co-Working Spaces: Giving A Home To Entrepreneurs

Co-working spaces in small towns become a place of interest and inspiration for passersby and local denizens.

- Bhairavi Jani

In early August this year, Rewaj Chettri, founder of one of Gangtok’s most active entrepreneurial cohorts, Startup Harbour, announced the opening of their first co-working space in town (and in Sikkim). The byline of the digital poster on Facebook read, ‘Your chance to work on your own idea alongside the most successful entrepreneurs in the State.’

Origins and Present Day

End-to-end serviced offices have existed in the big cities of India for a few decades now under terms such as ‘business centres’ and ‘serviced offices’. But the concept acquired new hues and layers altogether around halfway of this decade. Folklore from Silicon Valley travelled back with Asian recruits, especially from India. The grungy exposed industrial ceilings and vibrantly painted graffiti walls changed not just the nomenclature once more, but also the face and attitude of outsourced office spaces.

In their new avatar, co-working spaces have taken every metro city by storm. Today, start-ups and small businesses alike have jettisoned one common headache— determining the physical place of work. No more are dingy, mould-infested garages, or tin-pot offices their only options on a shoestring budget.

Bull-pens, lounges, standalone desks, cabins, conference rooms, and breakout areas are all accessible to the smallest, cost-nascent ideas and teams. Membership plans are flexible, infrastructure solid, and an environment that competes with established corporations and big dotcoms at a fraction of the cost.

Beyond Metropolises