August 2017

In France, the Trigano family is a close to a legend. Decades ago, Gilbert Trigano founded the worldwide famous ‘Club Med‘ brand. In 2017, his grandson Jeremie is now walking in his shoes. Mama Works is a network of coworking spaces inspired by their experience in the hotel industry, especially with the Mama Shelter brand, a collection of designed by Philippe Starck hotels, with locations now in a handful of cities in Europe and North America.

Hi Jeremie. Can you introduce Mama Works?

Mama Works aims to combine the creative and entertainment know how of our hotel brand Mama Shelter, as well as the real estate expertise of our partners. After having modified the shape of the hotel industry in France, we wanted to take on a new challenge by developing an alternative to traditional office spaces. A new generation of “workers”, eager to work in a friendly and stimulating atmosphere is emerging. The workplace is no longer just an office but a place to live and share and that’s why we created. This subtle blend of expertise and fun has given birth, we think, to a stimulating community buzzing with ideas and fizzing with energy! 

We use to say that coworking is to become an industry similar to the hotel industry. Do you agree?

We absolutely agree that the flexible workplace environment is starting to reflect the hotel industry. Like hotels, coworking spaces are segmented, vary in sizes, specialise in niches, offer different services, and start working with OTAs (online booking services) to sell empty desks.

Why, would you say, are hospitality service professionals well or better positioned than others to address the need for workers and companies for new work environments?

We are in the service business when most of the big coworking structures are run by real estate professionals and funds. As such we are here to serve our clients and sell them an experience, not an office desk!

We are in the service business when most of the big coworking structures are run by real estate professionals and funds. 

The Accor Group (one of the world leaders within the hotel industry) is one of your shareholders. Is it important to be supported by such a major world player?

Mama Shelter (the hotel brand from which Mama Works comes) has kept its full independence. We run Mama Works as a division of Mama Shelter. We have launched a start up within our start up!

A real estate broker has been assigned (Cushman & Wakefield) to market your work facility to tenants. How receptive are real estate brokers to the coworking model, would you say?

Brokers are highly responsive and understand there is a switch in the consumption of office space. They also realise there is a gap to fill in the commercialisation of these spaces. However, I believe the brick and mortar approach to selling offices spaces will slowly be replaced by online distribution channels offering the capacity to filter your searches by interest. 

How is your broker rewarded?

A nice commission.

Why not putting a proper sales force in place?

We have a sales team in place but as for hotels in some instances, it is more cost effective to use third parties which have a broader reach.

Are the Mama Shelter hotels and the new Mama Works offerings connected?

We are currently offering our Mama Works members a special rate in all Mama Shelter properties.
We are also giving special Mama Mobile (daily desk rentals) rates at our Mama Works locations to our Mama Shelter residents. Eventually, we will have coworking spaces inside our hotels and really have an integrated offering. 

One speaks more and more about coworking and co-living. Is it a bundle you might be exploring?

Yes, we are already looking into it.

How ambitious are Mama Works plans? Do you plan to stay in France only or are you considering an international expansion?

Pretty ambitious. We are going to use Mama Works Lyon as a laboratory. We already signed a site in Bordeaux opening in a few months and Lille in 2018. We have plans to expand internationally and have already signed a location in Europe…

Is the franchise model we see in the hotel industry appropriate for the coworking world, would you say?

Mama Shelter does no franchise. But we believe Mama Works is the ideal business model for franchise. Unlike the hotel industry, the coworking world relies on very few employees. It is easier to set up a franchise with 4 staff members and as long as we can keep a say on recruitment (not operations) we believe our concept can grow as a franchise model!

It is easier to set up a franchise with 4 staff members and as long as we can keep a say on recruitment (not operations) we believe our concept can grow as a franchise model!

How would you say you position Mama Works (in terms of target, tenants’ profile,…) as opposed to other independent of international coworking players?

We are trying to position Mama Works as an urban kibbutz for coworkers. We want our community to feed on each other and grow organically. Mama Works is chic, high tech, affordable but most importantly human, friendly and lively.

Takayuki Hagihara is one of the well-known faces within the coworking global scene. Tokyo based Takayuki travelled the world visiting dozens of coworking spaces and building up a limitless knowledge of the multi-diverse way the coworking model is implemented on the five continents. ULSLab’s (Ubiquitous Lifestyle Laboratory, his company) mission is “the realization of a society where everyone can cooperate without being tied to a location”.

Hello Takayuki. Can you introduce yourself and your activities ?

After a long career as an engineer, I decided to start my own company. As many in my situation, I started to visit some of the shared offices in Tokyo. During my investigations, I entered a bunch of coworking spaces. It appeared to me that coworking, as a working place, could become a very promising alternative to traditional workplaces. I met many attractive operators, such as Kyo, from PAX Coworking, the founder of one of the first coworking spaces to have opened in Japan. I figured out that the Coworking model was about something much stronger than just the “work environment”. As of today, we provide professional services both for service provider side and enterprise side on work style change management.

How is the situation of coworking in Japan in 2017 ? 

According to a 2016 research on service providers for telework which was conducted by the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, 1.987 flexible workplaces are active in Japan, claiming to be coworking spaces. Some are business centers. Based on the survey, we can say that 65.3% are operated by private organizations. About one third is profitable. The survey doesn’t make a clear distinction between the different offerings, though.

Do you see some specific drivers in Japan as opposed to other coworking offerings you have seen around the world ?

I do not see any significant differences between Japanese coworking spaces and European, Asian and US spaces I visited. I can find a foreign counterpart for any to Japanese coworking space I know. Each space differentiates itself from the others. That said, yes, at a smaller level, there are maybe some characteristics specific to Japan. For instance, kitchen and dining areas are relatively seldom in Japan, if I compare it to what I have visited in the US, Europe or the rest of Asia.

What about the profile of the tenants : freelancers, expats, startups, employees from private or public organizations ?

Freelancers and small startups are quite common. Accountant and independent consultants sometimes. Small businesses launched by retired people is something more unique in  Japan. We see them in some coworking spaces. Large enterprises also start to let their employees to work from shared offices and coworking spaces. On July 24th (2017), the government launched what they called ‘Telework day’. According to a report, more than 60,000 employees worked at home or from third workplaces, different from the company’ offices.

How important is it to build up a community feeling in coworking spaces in Japan (with events, happy hours, a celebration of people’ birthday, etc.) ?

It really depends on the space. Some operators I met are keen to organize lunches or coffee breaks in order to trigger new conversations, good to establish relationships. However, some (young female, for instance) attendees do not want to join drinking events. The community manager is critical to overcoming these barriers.

Just recently, WeWork announced a $300 Mio deal with SoftBank in order to open 40 spaces in Japan. What does the deal tell about the evolution of coworking in Japan? 

SoftBank isn’t the only one. There are many investments in the shared workplace business. Large real estate companies started branded spaces. Some company started more than one brand – focusing enterprise use, Tokyo branch use, coworking, innovation hubs, …

What about the role of independent operators ? Is the coworking market mainly in the hands of big brands, such as what we see in some other Asian countries ?

Independent operators are still vital and sometimes belong alliance programs provided by large brands. For example, Tokyu Corporation – one of the top private railway in the metropolitan area which also has real estate business subsidiary – started the brand NewWork currently focusing on enterprise employee hot desks near its railway stations has contracted with more than 10 independent coworking spaces as well as their own spaces.

How ready is the commercial real market to embrace coworking in Japan, would you say ?

Traditional property owners like to stay good old leasing model. There is a huge development in Tokyo area for high-end property and it makes an existing property to be rated as 2nd class. So, some owners decided the new coworking model to survive.