Blog

DAVAO—Shared office space provider IWG signed on Friday a franchise partnership agreement with property developer Damosa Land Inc. (DLI) to meet the constant strong demand for flexible working from businesses and professionals in Mindanao.

“Damosa has been a partner of ours for four years, and this sort of takes the partnership to the next level in terms of the growth that we see and our vision to really grow the IWG business here,” IWG Asia Pacific Head of Partnership Growth Matthew James Kenley told reporters during the ceremonial contract signing held in their facility at the Regus Damosa Topaz Tower in Lanang.

The deal at an undisclosed amount gives exclusivity for Davao-based Damosa Land Inc. to develop and operate eight branded centers of IWG in the cities of Davao, Cagayan de Oro and General Santos over the next five years.

This includes the Damosa Diamond Tower, which also topped off during the weekend. Located in the Damosa IT Park along JP Laurel Avenue, this 17-story landmark is where the first Regus franchise center will be situated once it’s completed by April of this year.

In Davao where IWG office space provider has been already operating since 2016, the company will still manage its existing centers at the Regus Damosa Topaz Tower (opened in 2016) and Regus Felcris Centrale (opened in 2018)—both owned by the property firm.

“Together with Damosa Land, we agreed four years ago that now the time is right to introduce this concept into this market. Since then, we’ve opened a second center. No doubt this has contributed to the extreme 8-percent growth of the economy in Mindanao,” said Lars Wittig, IWG country manager for the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and South Korea.

“We believe that by expanding into General Santos and Cagayan de Oro, not only will we become an enabler and facilitate further investors from Manila and abroad into this region, but also this is a good launch platform for local entrepreneurs,” he added.

Witnessing the region’s economic growth with a lot of investors from outside coming in over the last few years, Damosa Land Inc. First Vice President Ricardo F. Lagdameo is bullish that shared office space will continue to expand in the next couple of years and beyond.

“I think that any office building in the future will really have to have some kind of flexible workspace. So that’s why we believe there is really a growth opportunity, and not just here in Davao but, eventually, in other key cities of Mindanao,” he said.

IWG global network currently has 3,500 locations across 120 countries. Locally, it has 28 facilities in 10 cities across Metro Manila, Cebu, Davao and Clark.

This second franchise deal closed by IWG in the country and in Southeast Asia Being entitles Damosa Land Inc’s workspaces to become part of its globally recognized brands, namely, Regus, SPACES, HQ and Signature, that serve the workspace needs of over 2.5 million entrepreneurs, individuals and corporations daily.

Written By: Roderick Abad
Business Mirror