Taguig City, Philippines—WeWork—a platform that harbors space, community, and services to help creators make a life, not just a living—has just announced its entry to the Philippines via its upcoming debut location in Uptown Bonifacio Tower Three, Bonifacio Global City (BGC).
With the Philippines as WeWork’s fourth market in Southeast Asia — Following Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam — the Philippines serves as the fourth market of the creative space in Southeast Asia, with WeWork Uptown Bonifacio Tower Three slated to open in December 2018, and is set to accommodate 800 members across two floors.
As a nexus of Philippine economic activity, Bonifacio Global City provides a strategic location for WeWork as it allows its members—local and multinational enterprises, technology startups, small to medium businesses, creators and freelancers—to tap into the locale’s dynamic and diverse business opportunities. WeWork is also gearing up for its expansion to Makati City in early 2019.
Fortifying its Southeast Asia footprint, WeWork has grown to 12 locations with more than 6,000 members across Southeast Asia. Apart from its strong presence in Singapore and Indonesia, the company will also be advancing to other markets with upcoming locations in Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, and Kuala Lumpur by the end of 2018.
Global company, local playbook to empower homegrown and regional members
Founded in 2010 in New York City, WeWork has since grown to 287 physical locations in 74 cities in 23 countries across the globe. While it is a global company, WeWork has followed a local playbook in entering new markets in order to create an experience that is distinct and personal to each new location.
“As we place emphasis on our due diligence in understanding the local culture before entering any market, this gives us an additional edge by keeping our business attuned to the unique needs and opportunities of each market. Together with seeing demand from enterprises in BGC coming to WeWork as a solution in supporting their teams and growing their local ecosystem through our global network, we are expanding aggressively in order to bring the region closer to more creative and entrepreneurial communities across the globe,” says Turochas “T” Fuad, Managing Director, WeWork Southeast Asia.
In the Philippines, the company sees strong potential contributions to the country’s thriving startup ecosystem and micro-, small-, and medium- enterprises (MSMEs).
Data released by the Department of Trade and Industry show that there are almost 912,000 MSMEs currently operating in the Philippines, which accounts for 99.57% of all establishments or 70% of total employment. Under the current administration’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda, it is also stated that the government aims to promote science, technology, and the creative arts to enhance innovation and creative capacity towards self-sustaining, inclusive development, while investing on innovation, particularly on science and technology and human development.
Fuad expounds, “We see a deep bench of individuals and companies that we can help grow through our community, culture, and technology. The Philippines continues to be a promising hub for businesses of all sizes, and the young population who is well-versed in technology can help spur innovation that will benefit the national economic ecosystem and allow the Philippines to connect and collaborate with the rest of the world.”
Tapping on strong enterprise growth in BGC and strengthening a home for creators
Situated in Uptown
Place Tower Three in Megaworld’s Uptown Bonifacio township in Fort Bonifacio, WeWork’s
first home in the Philippines is a strategic nest located near the major
thoroughfares of Kalayaan Avenue and C5. It is also close to the headquarters
of large corporates and startup wonders alike, as well as to some of the
Philippines’ finest lifestyle options.
“We are delighted to welcome WeWork to the Philippines, and we are
thrilled that it has chosen Uptown Bonifacio to be its first home in the
country. Uptown Bonifacio is a perfect location for WeWork as it is considered
to be a major center of business, dining, entertainment and leisure in the
entire bustling district of Fort Bonifacio. WeWork is guaranteed to thrive in
an environment where everything is closer and more accessible. WeWork’s
aspiration of creating a dynamic and engaged community of members has certainly
found a home in Uptown Bonifacio,” said Jericho P. Go, Senior Vice President,
Megaworld Corporation.
According to Fuad, WeWork will evolve space into experience as the new Philippines location features signature WeWork elements such as common areas, phone booths, community bars, and breakout areas combined with Filipino-inspired art and design with a mix of materials that resonates with local culture.
Integrating the best of design, technology and community, the WeWork Member Network App for Filipino members will enable greater collaboration in-person and digitally. This is aimed at driving an inclusive member-driven experience that also fosters connections between Filipino companies and other WeWork members and collaborators across the globe.
Going one step further in supporting creators, startups, entrepreneurs, enterprises to businesses of all sizes, the WeWork global community will be able to greatly empower members such as Flow Health, a data and AI-grounded precision medicine platform, and Ascenda Loyalty, a global leader in the field of customer engagement.
“As a company leveraging on deep tech in the challenging field of medicine, we need a partner who understands how important technology is to enabling innovation. With WeWork as a solution to our growing teams, this was a natural fit as we want access to a diverse community of creators and collaborators that would spur us to continuously optimize, innovate, and up our game,” said Alex Meshkin, Chief Executive Officer, Flow Health. “Along with WeWork providing a hassle-free environment suited to our operational needs, this also allows our teams to continue focusing what they do best. Together with WeWork’s global network, we are excited for our local teams to further accelerate their collaboration and engagement within the community.”
“As we are expanding our new engineering team in Manila, we would like to revisit the opportunity of moving into WeWork following our earlier due diligence. With WeWork’s strong global network, we are confident that this will greatly support our growth in the Philippines and other markets,” said Kyle Armstrong, Chief Executive Officer, Ascenda Loyalty. “Having access to a ready suite of amenities as part of the seamless WeWork experience, we are very excited for our local team to move into the space as partnering with WeWork is a hassle-free experience and gives us the flexibility to be dynamic with our growth.”
Ongoing commitment to the Philippines market and strengthening the future of work and cities
Building on the strong growth and demand in the region, WeWork will continue its dedication to strengthening the local innovation ecosystem while navigating the future of work and cities to progress toward a new economy — one that uplifts all people and all communities. According to a new WeWork London Economic Impact Report, WeWork members in London surveyed report a 34% increase in revenue growth after joining WeWork. Bringing new people, businesses, and sustainable economic activity to neighbourhoods, while adding vibrancy to the tenant-pool for landlords, WeWork members spend nearly three times as much as the average Londoner on pubs, restaurants, and cafes, injecting more than £75 million per year into local neighbourhood business.
Going beyond the conventional norms of a typical space provider, WeWork is driving a positive future of cities that will require rethink of approaches to density, live-work-play spaces, and data-driven decision-making. By creating a new center of vitality surrounding WeWork locations such as WeWork Uptown Bonifacio Tower Three, this will introduce new people to WeWork’s community and offer an exciting range of services and amenities to the neighborhood, where the WeWork economy also creates a 2.1x economic multiplier in London, meaning for every WeWork member, an additional 1.1 jobs are supported through indirect and induced spending.
Committed to strengthening the local Philippines ecosystem, WeWork will continue to reimagine, reshape, and humanize the architecture of spaces, buildings, and cities to support innovation, encourage human connection, and provide greater economic opportunity by bringing people together to change the world.