WeWork begins working its success in Thailand

 

WeWork, the United States-based co-working-space start-up that has become a billion-dollar company, announced last week that it was formally entering the Thai market, opening two co-working locations in the capital Bangkok, and predicting its business in the Kingdom will grow in tandem with the country’s digital development.

“With Thailand embarking on a new phase of economic development, building on its digital transformation goals, WeWork is committed to becoming a partner to help achieve the ‘Thailand 4.0’ vision by acting as a launch pad for the mid-market segment,” said Turochas “T” Fuad, the company’s managing director for Southeast Asia.

WeWork was founded in Brooklyn, New York, in 2010 young entrepreneurs Miguel McKelvey and Adam Neumann. Today, the company owns and operates co-working spaces in 86 cities in 32 countries with over 10 million square feet of office space. In 2018, WeWork was valued at about $47 billion.

Fuad said WeWork would service micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) at two locations: Sathorn Road in the central business district, and Thonglor Road in the mid-Sukhumvit area. Its co-working spaces on Sathorn Road would occupy five floors with a capacity of 1,200 members, and on Thonglor, it would have seven floors to serve 1,700 members.

Founder McKelvey has said, however, that even some Fortune 500 companies have rented co-working spaces from WeWork. Those that have appreciated the synergies from working in an open, collaborative environment.

“More than 70 percent of companies using WeWork spaces have collaborated with each other,” he said. Renting office space at WeWork connects users with others at WeWork spaces worldwide in a global online community for networking, collaborations, and team building, he added.