- HelloHERA is a co-working space in Kuala Lumpur that focuses on providing women workers and entrepreneurs a space to collaborate and connect. Men and non-binary individuals are also welcomed.
- Prices for working at HelloHERA are at a flat rate of RM20 per hour per person, with there also being meeting rooms and event spaces for rent.
- There are also limited options for mothers to bring their children to work.
With so much talk about equal opportunities for women in entrepreneurship, it’s no surprise that more businesses and business owners are getting on board with the idea providing products and offerings especially catered towards females.
Looking to provide women with a place they can really call their own, Angie Chin created HelloHERA—a co-working space in the heart of Kuala Lumpur with a particular focus on providing female entrepreneurs and workers opportunities to connect, collaborate, and share their stories together.
Explaining the origin of the name, Angie offered that HelloHERA was coined as a result of combining the greeting “hello” and Hera—the name of the Greek goddess who was the wife of Zeus and also a symbol of female empowerment.
“We like to think that every woman is potentially powerful when they come to our hub,” she explained.
“Women love the idea of having a special place of their own—to congregate and build a community from within to support, inspire and grow one another.”
The Woman’s Way Forward
Founded in January of 2019, HelloHERA was conceptualised to solve the problem of women not having ample opportunities to network and connect with other like-minded women.
“We’ve been running women’s portals (HerPortal and WonderWomen Asia) for a while now, and we’ve been working at several co-working space in town and even in cafes,” Angie said. “What was lacking was us having a physical space for us to connect with other women easily.”
“What we’re trying to do is fill a gap in the market to cater for women-only events and activities that men don’t usually find interesting—women’s health talks, DIY classes, image workshops, and etcetera.”
But this isn’t to say that HelloHERA is a women-only space—Angie also said they welcome men and non-binary individuals who want to join in their collaborative environment.
“We’re inclusive to men coming into work or meeting up here if they don’t mind the girly setup,” she said. “We also have non-binary friends and we welcome them as they also deserve a space to work from.”
Simple Does It
Located at Q Sentral—just a stone’s throw away from the KL Sentral rail interchanges, HelloHERA operates on a simple pay-and-use concept, negating any complicated membership fees or long tenure plans.
Angie explained that the idea behind their simple pricing was to eliminate the need for customers to pay for things they didn’t need.
“Most co-working spaces come with monthly subscription packages (that also charge for other facilities and amenities), and when we signed up, we noticed that hardly anyone used the facilities included in those packages,” she explained. “Even the basic packages were pricey for bootstrapping startups like ours.”
After speaking with other startup founders, Angie and her team decided that the things really needed in a co-working space were a comfortable, clean environment, fast internet, and a strategic location.
Currently, rates at HelloHERA stand at RM20 per day for each patron (running for two weeks), with the opening hours being Monday to Friday, from 10AM to 6PM. There’s also the option for patrons go pre-pay up to RM100 and have their total balances deducted as they go.
After the promo ends, the rates will then be calculated per hour starting at RM15 for the first hour. However, the longer you stay, the less you’ll pay per hour.
They also have event and meeting space which can be booked for RM100 an hour on weekdays and RM180 per hour on weekend. On Saturdays, they operate from 10AM to 3PM.
Free-flow coffee, tea, snacks and occasionally fruit are provided.
Additionally, HelloHERA also affords limited space for mothers to bring their kids to work.
“Sometimes, mommies need space and super speed internet connection to do work, and also need to bring their kids to work,” Angie said. “So we’re toying with the idea of being the first co-working space to allow hardworking mommies to bring their kids to work.”
To promote this, they currently allow up to three mothers to bring their children to work at their space, with a set of house rules to be followed.
Make A Dent, Make A Trend
Moving forward, HelloHERA hope to expand their brand to have more locations, with some possibly equipped to handle more children.
“With increasing disturbing news about child abuse these days, nothing gives mothers a peace of mind more than having their children just steps away from where they work.”
Ultimately, HelloHERA hopes to become the place for women to be able to come out, explore, and nurture their potential.
“We look forward to producing successful women-led startups and businesses through our entrepreneurship bootcamps and workshops in collaboration with our strategic partners,” Angie said.
”We also wish to connect VCs and angel investors to these women via our hub through organised meetups, and hopefully our initiatives will change their lives.”
- You can find out more about HelloHERA at their official website or Facebook page.
Feature Image Credit: HelloHERA
