Cape Town,
This Is Coworking
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Back in 2013, Nathan Heller and I launched a little coworking space in Cape Town called Twenty Fifty. At the time there weren’t many around, but in just two years there’ve been a whole lot more pop up around the city. The great thing is that all of these places are totally different, each suiting different people in different industries with different preferences and different needs. There are tech-focused spaces in Woodstock, social entreprise-focused spaces in Khayelitsha, more formal business-focused spaces in the CBD… pretty much something for everyone.
Our space is a bit more casual. It’s a clubhouse for people working at the intersection of culture and commerce, but open to a whoever wants to be there. We’ve had an amazing group of people move through our space over the last (almost) two years. Some have been short term visitors, some from abroad spending a few months in Cape Town, and then a solid community of people who have been with us for most of our existence. We’ve always emphasised our community and the relationships between our members more than anything else. We have a diverse bunch of professionals that includes web developers, writers, designers, accountants, academics, filmmakers, entrepreneurs, yogis, musicians, artists, consultants, anthropologists, architects, and event organisers, amongst others. That diversity is what makes this place interesting.
Although more coworking spaces continue to open in Cape Town, and more people start to “get it” and join coworking spaces, there are still many people who don’t really know what coworking is, don’t quite get what it’s all about, or have never even heard about it (Hey you! You there! You at home in your slippers. I’m talking to you.).
For that reason, I thought I’d share what coworking really is (and isn’t), at least for me, and for us at Twenty Fifty.
Coworking is about people
Over and above anything else, coworking is about the people around you. Those fellow coworkers become your friends. Friends you grab lunch with, friends you go hiking with, friends you ask for advice, friends you end up working with, friends you share exciting moments with, friends you keep for life.
Coworking is about having a place for work
For those who work from home, separating work life from personal life is probably the biggest challenge. Having a separate place for work is one of the biggest perks for many of our members. It allows them to be productive at work and to relax at home, instead of mixing the two and going crazy in the process. (Not to say all open coworking spaces are the most productive environments in which to work.)
Coworking is about collaborating
“Collaborate” has become a bit of an abused word, but you know what I mean. Coworking is about working together with other people, whether that means having someone to ask for advice, having someone to hire for a project, having someone to exchange services with, or having someone to start a company with. It’s a whole lot easier when those people are sitting right next to you.
Coworking is about personal and professional development
Building relationships over time in a coworking community (depending on how you engage with it) can lead to powerful peer-to-peer learning. People learn from each other, whether out of curiosity or for a particular purpose, and often even find future opportunities through the relationships they’ve formed. Many of our members have secured both freelance jobs and full-time employment through the relationships they’ve formed (including me).
Coworking is about sharing infrastructure and costs
Coworking spaces are often categorised within the “sharing economy”, which refers to the sharing of physical resources that would otherwise have wasted “idling capacity”. It’s about having access to something rather than ownership of it. In this context that might be physical space, “hotdesks” that are used by different people on different days, a high-speed internet connection, etc. All of these things would end up being much more expensive if an individual or small team had to bare the fixed costs on their own. Some members of Twenty Fifty only pay around R500 a month and get access to resources that would otherwise cost a fortune.
In a way, this last point is the least important of what we’ve mentioned above. There is a certain standard when it comes to equipment, infrastructure, and aesthetics that one needs in order to be able to work comfortably, meet with clients, etc., but this is not what coworking is about. The physical stuff is just the platform on which all that other magic can happen… the work, the friendships, the collaborations, the people.
There you have it. These are some of the reasons we started our space and why we continue to develop it and work towards improving how our community operates.
If you work independently from home, cafés, or even if you work for a larger institution but need a change of scenery (and people) occasionally, I’d encourage you to try a coworking space for a day (or week or month). We offer a free first trial day at Twenty Fifty, as do most spaces (or at least day passes). It might not be for you, but if it is, it’s a powerful thing.
Here are a number of coworking spaces around Cape Town that might suit you:
Central City
Twenty Fifty (that’s us)
8 Spin Street
Click through to book a free trial day
Cape Town Office
62 Roeland Street
Inner City Ideas Cartel
71 Waterkant Street
Workshop 17
V&A Waterfront
Woodstock
Cape Town Garage
Woodstock Exchange
Daddy.O
Old Biscuit Mill
The Bureux
Woodstock Exchange (and Sea Point and Foreshore)
Hubspace
Old Castle Brewery
The Barn
Woodstock Exchange
Elsewhere
Hubspace Kayelitsha and Philippi
Growthspace
Somerset West
Thanks to Lindsay Rocke, Ian Petzer, Nathan Heller, Richard Bolland, Johnny Prince, and Natalie Henshaw for sharing their perspectives on coworking at Twenty Fifty.
