The Next Big Wave

CoWrks, the brainchild of RMZ Corp’s Sidhart Menda, has created a community workspace to cater to India’s next-level entrepreneurs

- Rashmi Naicker

Ten years ago, the goal was to get the job, work your way up Madmen-style to an office in a high rise, functioning along on the 9-5 routine. However, now, with the emergence of a new breed of professionals, people on average – not just millennials – stay at their jobs for less than a decade. As the generation redefines their goals from the corner office to autonomy, you can only bet on the drastic change the landscape of the office has witnessed.

The sharing economy has taken off globally and India is no exception. This development is evident across a multitude of industries and products – including taxis, hospitality and even, cars. With an estimated 15 million freelancers operating within India, the country is second only to the United States with regard to the amount of active independent workers worldwide, making it the perfect environment for a new coworking industry to blossom.

Foreseeing the augmentation in this sector led Bengaluru-based RMZ Corp’s Sidhart Menda to kick-start CoWrks, a shared incubating space for start-ups and freelancers. “Traditional office spaces have seen a dramatic transformation in recent years due to the rapid evolution of the modern workforce. CoWrks recognised the need to redefine workspaces to cater to the needs of the hyper connected and community-minded millennial worker. Doing away with obsolete concepts such as ‘the cubicle’ that focused only on effective space utilisation, the model opted for open spaces that, in addition to optimised spaces, stimulated a culture of inspiration and collaboration,” explains Menda, CoWrks founder and CEO.

THE SPATIAL FORMULA