In recent times, there has been a surge in the number of African entrepreneurs and innovators looking to stand out and grow their businesses. But one of the problems entrepreneurs face when starting a business is getting a suitable location to set up shop. This plays a vital role in the growth of any business, and in getting the right location, a lot of other things come to mind. How conducive the environment is for doing business, access to raw materials or other needs of the business, availability of like-minded individuals to learn and build valuable networks and thrive while creating a sense of community. This is where Workstation comes in.
Workstation is a Nigerian owned company provides shared workspaces, technology startup subculture communities, and services for entrepreneurs, freelancers, startups, small businesses and large enterprises, which was founded in 2016 by Fareed Arogundade.
Fareed Arogundade is an indigene of Osun State, Nigeria but was born and had his primary and secondary education in Lagos before going on to study Finance at the Howard University’s School of Business in Washington D.C., USA. Upon graduation, he stayed back in the U.S. for about a year and worked with Austin Capital Partners. During that period, he hatched his plan to set up an out-of-home advertising company in Nigeria. When Fareed returned to Nigeria, he founded Twenty-One Media Limited which operated their advertising business in Lagos and Port Harcourt.
During his search for a suitable office space for the upstream energy venture, he discovered he didn’t need to rent out a whole building or office to himself so he came about setting up virtual offices. During one of several conversations he had with friends and associates about the idea, his brother told him to look into what international companies like Wework and Cove were doing. He came up with the idea to create a real estate/energy sector hybrid office to cater for his real estate company and the upstream energy company and that was how workstation came to be. The initial plan was not for a coworking space but it has grown into that since it started.
Workstation is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and offers plans that cater to everyone such as weekend only, evenings only, 3 days a week and daily drop-ins. Valet parking is the only available to park at N500 daily or you can opt for the more valuable weekly parking fee. They also offer high speed, fibre optic internet and you can count on always having power at all times. And that’s not all.
Clients also have access to an ultramodern fitness centre that features a gym, yoga/meditation room and washroom; on-site cafe; two meeting rooms and a conference room with video and telephone conferencing, a projector and whiteboard; and a web application called Digital Member Network that allows members to connect with the space from anywhere in the world.
Workstation goes beyond just co-working, the company offers a range of Advisory and tech development services in addition to the Workstation API, a property management software, which is still in the works.
Since starting operations in 2016, Workstation has been able to foster great relationships between startup companies, providing them with an enabling environment where whatever they might need from business or financial advice to funding for expansion. The company has also been able to sign up over 2,000 businesses and individual members onto their digital platform. In addition to their immediate future plans to have a location in Maryland mall, Ikeja, Lagos, they plan to expand to Abuja, Port Harcourt and Accra.
