- WeWork announced that it will be moving into Southeast Asia, and Kuala Lumpur was named as one of the future locations.
- Just one week ago, LinkedIn job offers went up looking for community managers and community associates in KL.
Update 18/4/2018, 6:30 pm: The Johor position is unable to be verified for now. We’ve amended the article to reflect this.
In March, it had been announced that WeWork is taking a US$500 million stake in Southeast Asia and South Korea. Malaysia was one of the names mentioned in that Southeast Asian expansion.
Thus far, most of the coverage of WeWork’s Southeast Asia entry has focused on Singapore. As stated in a previous report, WeWork had secured a 300,000 sq ft space in the island nation, but did not elaborate about locations in Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Jakarta and Bangkok.
Then, a week ago, job offers had gone up on LinkedIn for positions in WeWork Malaysia.
However, WeWork is still keeping mum about other details, like exactly where Malaysia’s WeWork spaces might be located, and when they will open aside from plans to open by the end of 2018.
We’re reaching out to WeWork for comment, and will update this space with their reply.
WeWork will be competing with the region’s first-movers like Regus and Common Ground that have been expanding rapidly in Malaysia, among others.
It is also unclear whether WeWork will be starting from scratch here, or if it will employ its previous modus operandi of acquiring an existing co-working space and converting it to their vision.
They are entering a relatively robust scene here as well.
According to an independent global flexible workplace specialist, Instant Group, the number of centres in Kuala Lumpur was at 104 in December 2017—a 28% market growth from 2015.
In fact, some would argue that co-working spaces should be considered a sector in its own right.
And the market is flourishing here. In our own travels around local co-working spaces, many of them often speak of already having more than 80% occupancy rates, some of them even before the locations have finished getting built, including by big corporation.
Nevertheless, WeWork’s launch in Malaysia has been much awaited.
They might not be the first to launch a co-working space, but WeWork played a big part in popularising it globally, and even shifting around co-working spaces’ biggest buzzword: community.
WeWork has been named the sixth most valuable startup in the world. It leases modernised, millennial-friendly spaces that began for startups, but soon grew to encompass big corporations as well.
There is usually free-flow beer and coffee, and stylish spaces designed to facilitate conversations and connections.
The founders have spoken about the measures they’ve taken to facilitate community, from running the right events to even installing cameras in common areas to see if they are actually being used.
But for those of us working in Malaysia, we may have to wait just a little longer to see that reality here.
- If you’d like to apply for a job in WeWork Malaysia, you can apply as a community manager, community associate, or tech lead.
Feature Image Credit: WeWork
