Author’s Blurb: I need pindrop silence to work. That, or mellow instrumental music playing in the background. But maybe in a couple of years when I have my own children, I’ll grow used to doing my best work in their presence.
At least, that’s what this coworking space is trying to achieve.
In an effort to help parents find the middle ground between a busy working schedule and quality time for their kids, LinDees was born.
Located in the bustling city of Hartamas, it can see an average of about 300 people on a busy day.
The founders behind LinDees are Mien Dee and Nurlin, two working mothers who struggled with the exact same problem they now try to solve.
Work With A Watchful Eye On Your Kids
According to them, most child-friendly facilities they came across were just playlands, restaurants with a designated area for kids, or just an activity space for kids.
They didn’t mention specific names, but we have a few ones in mind if we’re talking about coworking spaces that let parents bring their kids to work.
For example, there’s Colony KL and HelloHera.
However, the designated child-friendly spaces they offer are comparatively small to what LinDees’ founders had envisioned.
Their vision was to bridge the gap between a place for a comfortable working area for parents and a spacious area for extended, healthy child play.
“We also conducted on the ground market analysis to understand traffic flow in the area (Hartamas) we chose to gauge potential customers’ interest,” Nurlin told Vulcan Post.
What they found was that the Hartamas area was underserved for a children’s playland and that the community spirit resonated well with them.
“The location we found provided us with the space we needed, a fantastic view and the ability to design and develop a concept that we believed in,” Nurlin emphasised.
“We provide facilities for parents to be able to work comfortably upstairs while having the full view of the playland to keep an eye on their kids if they need to as well.”
This is called the Kerjasama Deck, which is designed to give parents a bird’s eye view of their kids located on the lower deck of the play area.
Sure, they provide parents with access to the usual co-working facilities like private pods, hot desks, meeting rooms.
But they’ve also got a mini-section dedicated to storing baby milk and private breastfeeding rooms.
There’s not just one play area either.
The kids can be dropped off at multiple rooms designed for a specific set of activities that can be carried out through the day, including sports activities, water sensory play, obstacle playgrounds, arts and crafts, and more.
Working parents with newborn babies are also not excluded from this experience. Before heading off to the Kerjasama Deck, parents can drop their newborns off at the Manja Nest, a special area reserved for infant children.
Understandably then, security becomes a major point of emphasis for LinDees.
Nurlin put our minds to ease. “Each child is required to wear a tag, and this has to be scanned upon entry and exit of LinDees.”
“Each tag includes information of the child’s guardian/parents such as their IC and contact number,” she explained.
Growing LinDees
To decide on a fair pricing point for passes and memberships, the duo first looked towards conducting market research amongst parents.
A few of their focus groups stemmed from parents that were active on the Kidxy platform (managed by LinDees’ other founder, Mien Dee)—a marketplace that allows for Malaysian parents to shop for activities that are geared towards children.
For a single day pass (8 hours), parents can expect to pay RM68 and above for a single desk and access to the playground.
However, their prices are also determined by the age of your children and the coworking area you want access to—which you can find out more about here.
In an effort to encourage more traffic and to brand LinDees as truly an integrated space for working parents and their toddlers, they also provide a space for relevant vendors to sell and promote their products in the space.
When asked about what’s in store for them in the near future, Nurlin wants to grow LinDees to become the preferred destination for families, kids and parents to interact and enjoy time together.
“We hope to open other outlets across Malaysia that celebrate the uniqueness of Malaysia, and to encourage parents to spend more time with their kids and for kids to have a meaningful active play,” she said.
Bottom Line: I’m not a mum, but I can totally see the appeal. Trying to get work done in a random cafe with your kids brings up concerns about their safety and how to keep them entertained, so this coworking space could definitely help parents kill more than 2 birds with 1 stone.
- You can read more about other Malaysian startups here.
Featured Image Credit: LinDees
