WeWork and the Association of Entrepreneurs of Mexico (ASEM) provided a support plan for entrepreneurs, according to Forbes Mexico. Both organizations have teamed up to offer entrepreneurs months of offices. A second phase includes the use of all the facilities available in Mexico and 150 cities around the world. The plan is ideal for entrepreneurs who bet on hybrid work models between home and offices after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Entrepreneurs who are part of the Association of Entrepreneurs of Mexico (ASEM) are available to opt for this support. The shared office space firm will also provide its facilities free of charge for one year to 10 businesses created by women. In the same way, it will offer one month of free offices to any member of ASEM and two and three months without cost if the entrepreneur commits to a membership of six months or one year, respectively.
Entrepreneurs will be able to work anywhere
WeWork is also planning a new All Access product, which will allow members to use any location of the 26 buildings in the country and around the world.
WeWork has a presence in 150 cities, according to Álvaro Villar, general director of WeWork Mexico in a meeting with the media.
For her part, Juana Ramírez, founder of Sohin and president of ASEM, explained that at a time when entrepreneurs have been denied concrete support in terms of paying taxes or social security contributions, help in the cost of Workspaces entails tangible savings in fixed costs for entrepreneurs.
“The pandemic has particularly hit women entrepreneurs. However, there has been a lot of resilience, we see that 53% of companies increased their online sales and there are changes that are here to stay in terms of work habits. Today more than ever we must be cost-efficient because uncertainty is a big challenge ahead, ” she said.
To be part of the ASEM, those interested can fill out an application form. Juana Ramírez stressed that being part of the association, which brings together more than 22,000 entrepreneurs, has no cost for interested SMEs.
In Mexico, 80% of entrepreneurs have incomes of less than 2 million pesos a year, in addition to the fact that only 12% report having more than 10 collaborators, according to the X-ray of entrepreneurship in Mexico, prepared by ASEM.
We’re working
Regarding the behavior of WeWork’s business during the pandemic, Álvaro Villar, general director of the firm for Mexico, explained that, although “they were left for dead” at the beginning of the contingency, the truth is that the operation of shared work centers remained.
“We were open because many of our members were companies with essential activities, but we made sure to comply with all the guidelines, we even have an external audit firm that supervises the protocols and sanitation measures.”
Villar affirmed that although the growth of the business is not yet at pre-pandemic levels, the truth is that they have not stopped adding members every month. Currently, 60% of WeWork members correspond to large corporations and 40% are entrepreneurs who have SMEs.
“We are seeing a transition from the traditional world to the hybrid model where for many companies 100% remote work does not work,” he said.