It’s been a tough 4-5 months of sluggish business for many startups since the COVID-19 pandemic grew in severity.
Now that surviving ones are trying to kickstart their businesses once again, those that need physical offices may struggle with high rental costs and long-term contracts that they’re not sure they can commit to.
The short-term solution that the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), in partnership with Malaysia Digital Hub operators, has come up with is in the form of Digital Hub Passes.
Essentially, they’re RM10 daily passes and RM40/week (5 days) passes at 5 selected coworking spaces in Klang Valley: Common Ground, Co. Bangsar, Dojo KL, UnionSPACE, and WORQ.
Typically, a day pass at UnionSPACE would cost RM35, while WORQ’s day pass would cost RM40, for example, so you are getting quite a discount.
Weekly passes are rarely offered by most coworking spaces, as their shortest membership plan would often be monthly passes, which are higher commitment.
Entrepreneurs can pick between the 2 packages to suit their needs as they adjust to the new normal.
Many tech startups opt for coworking spaces over traditional office leases as the former have the advantage of being more cost-effective and flexible.
Startups can also take advantage of the facilities there such as mentorship, funding opportunities, corporate partnerships, accelerator programmes, amongst others.
More In The Works
This initiative is more geared towards tech entrepreneurs who aren’t existing tenants of the participating coworking spaces.
Interested entrepreneurs can obtain the Digital Hub Pass directly from the selected coworking spaces.
While this current offer will last only until August 31, 2020, MDEC shared that there are more than 13 accelerators and coworking spaces in the pipeline that will soon be participating with Malaysia Digital Hub to offer the Digital Hub Pass.
In total, there are 7 certified Malaysian Digital Hubs that support over 400 startups.
They’re in partnership with other accelerators and tech-based multinational companies (MNCs) like Google, Amazon and Microsoft to build talent pool and provide funding opportunities (through partners like Cradle, Gobi Partners, etc.), community engagements, events, mentorship, training, hackathons and various accelerator programmes.
The Malaysia Digital Hub is part of MDEC’s initiative to accelerate Malaysia’s digital economy growth while ensuring socio-economic inclusivity by focusing on 3 key pillars: digitally-skilled Malaysians, digitally-powered businesses, and digital investments.
- Learn more about the Digital Hub Passes here.
- You can read how coworking spaces are keeping members safe during the pandemic here.
Featured Image Credit: WORQ / Common Ground
