Back in February 2016, four friends, Ashiq Rahman, Fuad Abdul Quader, Rubaiyat Alam and Abir Chowdhury began to plan about setting up their coworking space in Dhaka. But establishing a coworking space was no easy feat. The founders of Hive, found out this the hard way.
‘Hive has been started by us four friends, and at that time we were in a transition period of relocating to Dhaka,’ Ashiq said in a chat session. ‘We have our ventures and other commitments, so we thought of contributing to this growing ecosystem of technology enthusiasts. We wanted to take one step at a time by first setting up a coworking space, then an incubator and more services later on.’
After coming back to Dhaka, the four of them did plenty of research. From talking to entrepreneurs on a small scale to consulting with established businesses, they were trying to understand the market gaps or which processes can be improved so that they can have more efficient and productive understanding of the entire sector. At first, they wanted to start directly as an incubator firm, where they could work with enthusiastic individuals or startups to mentor, scale and grow them.
‘We realized that even though we have our own baggage of experiences, we were very inexperienced in the local market,’ Ashiq said. ‘We did not know much much about the local ecosystem, the level of professionalism, the sense of belongingness amongst the crowd. So we thought, that’s where we should start first. Ideally, the best way to learn about something is to be involved in it. Hence, we decided to start a coworking space, where we can host these freelancers, entrepreneurs, startups or even businesses and consultants and get to know them.’
‘We begin planning about Hive sometime around February 2016, but we all left the country in March,’ Ashiq recalled. ‘We got the place, took out the rental agreement, paid for interior designing and invested a lot of money into the business before our departure. The owner of the location was looking after it on our behalf and gave us regular updates.’
‘But when I came back in April, I saw an entirely empty space,’ he exclaimed. ‘It was just like it was when I left the country. We had been giving out rent for the past two months but accomplished nothing. That indeed was heartbreaking.’
This initial setback was certainly demotivating for them. So the owners took it upon themselves to start everything from scratch. ‘The first two months were very hard. We made a point that “You know what, we don’t need an interior designer, we don’t need anything,”’ Ashiq explained. ‘We decided to get our own people. We stayed at Hive from early in the morning till late at night to get work done. So we got our own carpenter, electricians, painters and put together all the materials. We made the designs ourselves even though we were not architects. We couldn’t wait any longer. We stayed at Hive for 30 days continuously from 9 am to 10 pm and got everything set up. We completed it in a month by just staying here and getting our own people. So, it certainly was a tough journey and took a huge toll on us.’
Their efforts finally paid off as they launched Hive in June 2016. Before starting Hive, all the founders had their own ventures and commitments but were determined to contribute to the growing ecosystem of technology enthusiasts in Bangladesh. All the founders are tech enthusiasts, some of them even working for the Silicon Valley and the US Federal Government. At seven months old, Hive is the newest coworking space in the Dhanmondi area of Dhaka city. Finding the ideal location was also a hurdle for them.
‘We had a big challenge in finding a strategic location,’ Ashiq informed. They chose the Dhanmondi area, which they thought gave them a good strategic advantage. ‘This place caters to a large chunk of our target population,’ Ashiq said. ‘We have the Dhaka University, Dhanmondi, and Mohammadpur areas. We wanted to find a place which would be accessible by everybody through public transport.’
After the launch of Hive, grabbing the market attention took them some time. But the presence of other coworking spaces in Dhaka made it easier for them to explain the concept to startups and freelancers.
Despite being relatively new in the market Hive quickly integrated itself into the growing culture of startups. Other than hosting entrepreneurship events like DrinkEntrepreneurs, Startup Grind and tech meetups like WorkCred, Hive hosts a few startups for free. Moreover, they also create networks and connections between the members. ‘Since it’s a coworking space, there is a diversified population here,’ Ashiq said. ‘ So it’s important that the community is a compatible one. So, make it a point to talk to everybody before getting anybody on board. Along with that, we try to find the network in between.’
‘While researching the startup industry of Bangladesh, the owners at Hive came across a series of gaps in the market. Ashiq firmly focused on the missing mentorship which results in the absence of validation and no due diligence in market research.
‘There’s a lack of understanding of what the consumer wants or the requirements of the end party rather than what I, the entrepreneur, want to make,’ he explained. ‘There is more hype in creating a copycat replica model rather than creating something curtailed and customized to the local industry. I see these things a lot. Then again my knowledge and mind are limited to Dhaka’s ecosystem. I see less of sustainability and patience. In this short 7 to 8 months of time, I have seen people getting together, starting something and then leaving it, under the impression that there isn’t any foreseeable success, after only a month or two’s worth of effort.’
‘I think on a major scale, those are the big problems as well as the issue of having space, which we are catering to,’ he continued. ‘We have seen people working from home which is very unproductive. Meetings at coffee shops don’t go well. They are just struggling to get a place of their own because going to a proper office gives them that mental edge. Waking up in bed and working from there is very demotivating. It’s also difficult to have an office of their own when there are just 2 or 3 members of a team, given the increased rents, expenses, security deposits, furniture, textures and fixed assets. These are the bunch of problems which we wanted to tackle one by one.
Diversity is also one of the biggest strengths at Hive. In a lot of cases, coworking spaces are used by IT and media firms. But Hive prides itself on its diversity. ‘I will give an account of our diversification,’ Ashiq said excitedly. ‘We have a non-profit organization working in our space. They are consultants working from here. We have a partner of an NGO called Awaz working here. Obviously, we have tech people, IT firms, digital marketing firms but we do have people from some other areas. At least at Hive, I see a very diversified population in this small span of time, and we are not only technology-centric, but we also offer many things beyond that.’
Coworking has also been vital in increasing the interactions with one another. ‘We are interacting all the time in the office and it feels great,’ Ashiq beamed. ‘Especially the people working here are very enthusiastic about talking to each other. People are not just coming here individually and doing their own things and leaving. They are making an effort to speak to the other person here, know what they are doing, go on lunches together or trying to see if they can collaborate and do something.’
But one common problem faced by coworking spaces in Bangladesh is that not many people are aware of the concept. ‘That’s because the startup industry in Bangladesh is very new compared to other countries even in our own subcontinent,’ Ashiq informed. ’The first coworking space was established in 2014. So, even the coworking industry is a very new one, based on startups. However, even with that note, the startup and technology have been having a lot of traction. People want to do startups, want to do technology, but little do they know that a large number of startups have been built from coworking spaces. Case studies and success stories of many startups highlight the firms started off at coworking spaces and how coworking added value which led them to where they are today.’
He also believes that there should be stories and basic questions which can address why coworking is creating so much noise in different parts across Asia. The contribution of coworking, the quantitative data of its success and how much on par it is with the local market can help entrepreneurs and startups alike. ‘We have to start educating,’ he emphasized. ‘The industry is new itself, so people are not accustomed to the concept. They have various questions and a good number of justified concerns. We have to show them the differences and comparisons with other countries. We also have to pull off a parallel comparison about how coworking spaces, in relation to startups have grown.’
So how can these issues be solved? ‘What we, the people behind the coworking spaces, can do is come together and do things to educate the target industry about coworking spaces and how it can actually add value to them,’ Ashiq advised. ‘At the end of the day, it is always about adding value. If there is no value addition to a service then there is no meaning to it. So one of the things is to educate the community.’
‘Maybe we can come up with some cross-sectional plans. I don’t know how that will work; maybe there will be people who will work twice a day in Mirpur, twice a day in Dhanmondi and so on. Maybe we, the coworking space owners, can devise a plan or product because, at the end of the day, this is a business model which has been created to enhance the efficiency and productivity of the target market.’
So what would be his advice to aspiring entrepreneurs who are reading this article? ‘My advice is to do a proper market valuation and research before starting anything,’ he said. ‘If someone is a fresh graduate who wants to do something, I promote entrepreneurship, but it just can’t be for the word. Value creation is critical here; just the word ‘startup’ makes no sense. I would want them to understand what is a startup, why is it a startup and they will get to know that startup is something which can scale very fast. But if they are confused or just want to venture into the proposition of entrepreneurship and startup, for the sake of doing it, then I’d say, don’t do it. Work somewhere, gain the experience, understand the management, organizational structures and processes. Take those values and incorporate them to their given startups. It just cannot be about making to the next phase. It just cannot be another replica model. It has to create an impact on the target market.’