IWG collaborates with bank on new workspace

The International Workplace Group and The Alternative Bank have partnered to meet the rising demand for flexible workspaces in Lagos, with the opening of a new workspace on the bank premises in Lekki, Lagos State.

At the recent signing of the agreement between the partners at the workspace under the HQ brand, it was revealed that the new location, HQ Lagos Lekki Link Bridge, and another, Regus Lagos Mansard Place, come on the heels of the business posting its highest-ever revenue, cash flow and earnings in its history, and achieving rapid network growth, signing 465 new locations in the first half of 2024 alone.

Both are situated in Lagos, and these new locations are part of the drive by the International Workplace Group to meet the sharply rising demand for flexible working space in the area.

By bringing high-quality office spaces to Lagos, International Workplace Group enables local people to experience living in a ’15-minute’ city, allowing workers to work close to their homes without commuting far from where they live.

The HQ workspace is set to open in Lekki in March 2025 and will be on the 2nd and 3rd floor, while the Regus location at Mansard Place will be on the 3rd floor of the six-storey building and will open in February 2025.

The Chief Executive Officer/Founder of International Workplace Group Plc, Mark Dixon, in a statement, said, “We are establishing a stronger and much-needed footprint in Nigeria with these latest openings. As an important business hub, Lagos is a fantastic place for us to boost our expansion plans.

“The need for high-quality flexible workspaces continues to soar as hybrid working becomes the new normal. We are very pleased to work in partnership with Sterling Bank and APD to develop the brand under a management agreement that will add cutting-edge workspaces to the buildings.

“Our openings in Lagos come at a time when more and more companies are discovering that flexible working boosts employee happiness and satisfaction while helping the environment. Our workplace model is also proven to increase productivity and allows for a business to scale up or down at significantly reduced costs.”

The Country Director of IWG, Ayo Akinmade, in his comments, said that the partnership wasn’t just about creating offices for people to use but to “create a space that will be used to be productive but beyond that to enable them to meet their banking needs as they want it and whenever they want it. This is a pilot that we expect to become a norm.”

Also, speaking at the event, the MD/CEO of Sterling Bank, Abubakar Suleiman, noted, “What we see here today is part of a holistic thinking for the Sterling Group. The expression of this place is through our subsidiary, The Alternative Bank Limited. This is our interpretation of embedded banking in real life.

“We think that before you can do digital embedding correctly, you have to first embed in physical spaces and that means you have to first find the community or ecosystem where financing improves value for everyone. In the commitment of The Alternative Bank to creating wealth for everyone, we find spaces where because The Alternative Bank is present, value is enhanced.

“First and foremost, one of the challenges to creating workspaces is financing. It is difficult to find the right financing for spaces like this and scale. The Alternative Bank being a real sector-focused bank has the funding base to support the development of spaces like this.

“Secondly, where customers come for business reasons, they almost always need a banking service provider and there would be no need to depart from where they do business to meet those needs. We know that the presence of a bank in those spaces improves the opportunities for those who use the spaces   and we are hoping that not only would we be inviting IWG to our space, they will also be inviting us to their space .”

According to reports, the adoption of hybrid working by companies may lead to 30 per cent of all commercial real estate being flexible workspace by 2030.

As the ongoing shift towards hybrid working accelerates, the potential for further growth is exponential with an estimated 1.2 billion white-collar workers globally and a total addressable market of more than £1.57tn.

In 2023, International Workplace Group welcomed over 800 new partner locations and counted 83 per cent of Fortune 500 companies among its customer base.

International Workplace Group is the world’s leading provider of flexible workspace – featuring nearly 4,000 locations in more than 120 countries with members able to access all of the locations and business services via the International Workplace Group app.