INTERVIEW BY PANIS PIERI

In the world of startups, you have coworking spaces. Coworking spaces are working and sometimes living offices where startup companies and digital nomads work. According to many people, the definition of coworking is when people assemble in a neutral space to work independently on different projects, or in groups on the same projects. It’s different than a typical office workspace because the people in a coworking environment generally aren’t working for the same company. 

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Coworking spaces offer the same amenities you would find in a traditional office, along with a lot more. A major differentiator is flexibility since you don’t need to sign a long-term lease in a coworking space. One of these coworking spaces is AntWork. Antwork has offices in Lebanon, Amman and Limassol. Founder and CEO is Zina Bdeir Dajani. An architect by education but an entrepreneur at heart. 

Antwork makes the freedom of work, real and accessible to every ambitious entrepreneur and freelancer, by creating tech-enabled workspaces accessible to all, on short term basis.

We had an interesting interview with Zina. 

Tell us more about your personal story. 

Well, I am an architect by education. And later studied and worked in Real estate development. But at some point, it felt like these conventional careers are too outdated and unless coupled with a twist of tech, digital, and new-age technology, they are bound to become obsolete. 

There had been a paradigm change in Real estate and the end-users were looking for new things: Access over ownership. They were uninterested to invest in the most valuable and expensive space but they wanted to have access to it, when they needed it and pay as much as they use it. 

That was a revelation. In the world of startups and new businesses. I was exposed to that because my husband is a serial entrepreneur, and he was having trouble with exactly that. So I stepped in and realised there is an opportunity there. An opportunity to create the future of work. The new way of doing business and the keyword is sharing. Sharing of resources, sharing space, but also the sharing knowledge. And the key component creating a scalable business is tech. So that was one pillar that shaped the concept. 

Why have you created the Antwork Shared Coworking Spaces?

The coworking spaces idea came as a response to a changing world of business and a need for small innovative companies, whose main concern is getting their business up and running in the shortest time possible and in the simplest way possible. And on the other hand, it was an idea that addressed the real estate industry; that resolved the burdens of real estate – 20-page long lease agreements, payment guarantees, guarantors, and complicated paperwork. The world was becoming digital on so many levels and in all industries across the economy and real estate, one of the largest industries in the world was still behind. 

You are an architect. How did this influence your decision to create Antwork?

As an architect and a real estate developer myself, I understand the value of good design, comfortable and inspiring spaces, the value of the square meter and what can be done with it. I made it my mission to convert underutilized spaces into productive and vibrant spaces that give people the privacy, the interactivity and the flexibility they need to anchor, support and focused on growth. 

Architecture is a way of thinking, it is a way of perceiving resources and making the best of them. It is a problem-solving exercise and a creative one too. That’s what I rely on every time I look at a potential space that can be converted to better use and that can add value to the end-user. 

What is the philosophy of Antwork Coliving? 

Antwork has not tapped into the coliving space. We have explored it for a while, but then we dropped it as it turned out to be a different beast, that requires a different strategy and a different target market. 

Our tech platform is very much ready to serve the co-living concept and industry, however, as a business, our target and aim are to create a platform for collaboration and exchange, in the professional environment. Coliving may come to serve that same purpose but is not a goal by itself for us. Should we find a partner whose focus is coliving, we’d be happy to extend our tech platform to serve his industry, under the same user experience and tech principles, for the living industry.  

Can you share with us some important milestones of setting up Antwork until today?

Antwork was conceived and launched in 2016. We started by acquiring a 50,000 sq ft campus (Spears, Lebanon) and renovating it to accommodate our idea of a short term shared office space. The space was ready for use in Q1 2017. 

At the end of 2017, we were at 90% occupancy, and at the beginning of 2018, we were fully occupied and the space was vibrant and active.

We designed the business and its culture with our future plans in mind: to expand beyond the Spears location.

Antwork wanted to be the home of work for those startups everywhere, so they will never have to worry about their workspaces.

We started expanding within Lebanon, 2 locations followed the main campus. In 2018, we launched in Saida, an underserved city that was seeing a movement on the startups and entrepreneurial side. Then we partnered with a telco, and launched their very own coworking and incubator space in the same year. Later we followed it with the setup and launch of an eCommerce hub in 2018; serving an eCommerce community that was growing. 

2019- was the year of opening to Europe. We set up the space in Limassol that effectively became operational in January 2020. 

It was a 30,000 sq ft space that was opened in Cedars Oasis, on Makariou Avenue in Limassol, Cyprus. That was our first entry into a European market. This was followed by a creative Hub in 2021 in Amman Jordan. 

Needless to say, our membership base continued growing across locations and exceeded 10,000 members in December 2021. 

What services are you offering to entrepreneurs?

Antwork makes the freedom of work, real and accessible to every ambitious entrepreneur and freelancer, by creating tech-enabled workspaces accessible to all, on a short term basis. 
It offers serviced offices, coupled with workspace services and support, as well as Business services and activations, providing opportunities to entrepreneurs and small business owners to meet and exchange with other like-minded individuals.

For the last two years, you have been operating in Limassol. What other locations do you have and what are the next plans for expansion? 

As mentioned Limassol was being prepared earlier, but actually launched in January 2020 – just before the lockdowns hit and disrupted our operations. We immediately recovered from that and by the turn of the year, we reached 90% occupancy. At that point in time, we started looking for other locations in Cyprus (Nicosia being an option). 

Meanwhile, we set up and opened our creative hub in Amman, and are working today on new locations in both Dubai and Riyadh, KSA. 

On your website, you mention "Don’t succumb to economic stagnation, and join the next-generation real-estate." What is the next generation of real estate, in your opinion? 

The short term flexible, adaptable space. The collaborative space, is serviced and made available to everyone on demand. It is real estate as a service. 

The home office outside your home, coupled with a hybrid model of work, allows personal interaction at times, and personal space and concentration space at others. 

Are you funded by private investors? Can we mention some names and are you looking to raise funds to expand more? 

We are funded by private investors – Angel Investors and Seed Investors. 
Yes, today we are launching a Growth Round of funding, divided into 2 parts. The first part is a convertible loan offering, to fund the growth and relocation of the team, and the second is a location-based fund, to invest in specific markets and get them up and running in no time. 
We are looking for interested investors in this growing industry to help us scale. We believe we are in the midst of the fastest growing industry and now investors are starting to see it. Our growth plan is aggressive, as we have grown beyond educating our target market about the value of our proposition, today it is about establishing a footprint. 

How do you see the Limassol startup scene evolving? 

It has been gaining momentum recently. Most of our clients in Limassol specifically are medium size companies. Very few are small companies are startups, but we are seeing more and more freelancers, consultants and new founders, working on launching a business. It is still in its infancy, but taking shape. Unlike other cities, in Limassol, we first targeted established businesses rather than startups, because these were the ones willing to learn about our workspace solution and try it.. today, it is expanding to other industries and other sizes of businesses. 

How can Antwork help the business and startup community in Cyprus?

Antwork can help by providing a platform, for these companies to form, to operate with minimal expenses, commitments, and maximum flexibility. It provides a platform for relationships to be forged, professional relationships, friendships and client/service providers’ relationships. It offers opportunities for exchange and exposure through events and activations and allows people to relax sharing and collaborating with like-minded individuals. 

What is your daily motivation? If you weren’t building Antwork, what would you be doing?

Building something else. My aim with Antwork is to create a network, a productive and inspiring network of active, innovative change-makers, and to provide them with the platform to operate and grow – to their fullest potential. It is mainly about enabling, empowering and connecting. 

What’s going to matter for Antwork in three, six or eighteen months from now?

Momentum. Various Locations, in various cities across the region. A growing members’ network and mostly, platform-based members to members’ transactions and exchange.