South African co-working space, Xtraspace, rebrands its offerings
South African serviced office and co-working space provider, Xtraspace is rebranding its offerings to distinguish between its premium service offices and its storage facilities. The serviced offices and co-working spaces are now named The Workspace, whilst the remainder come under the FlexiOffice brand name. The serviced offices and co-working spaces offer unlimited high-speed WiFi and IT support with reception services, whilst FlexiOffice is a fully supported office service providing meeting rooms, free WiFi, printing/faxing facilities and business centres for SME businesses.

XtraSpace is rebranding its various flexible office offerings, differentiating between its premium serviced offices and those linked to its storage facilities around South Africa.

The top-end serviced offices and co-work spaces are now known as The Workspace, while the others remain under the FlexiOffice brand.

“The Workspace is a premium offering with fully serviced, furnished offices and co-working spaces. They’re connected and flexible with meeting facilities and excellent support services,” says Colleen Mansour, chief operating officer of XtraSpace.

Clients have access to unlimited high speed Wi-Fi and IT support too, as well as personalized phone answering and messaging with full reception function. “These offices are located in prime areas and our terms are highly flexible and tailor-made to suit the client,” she adds. “They come with superb finished and décor too.”

FlexiOffice, on the other hand, is a support office service, which provides infrastructure for small to medium businesses, with meeting rooms, business centres, free Wi-Fi and printing/faxing facilities.

The difference, says Mansour, is that FlexiOffice offers a smaller bouquet of services, excluding support services such as a full reception function, IT support or personalised phone answering. “Our FlexiOffices are located at selected storage facilities and are available to give additional support and service to our storage clients. Terms are flexible,” Mansour says.

There is currently a need in the market for premium, flexible office space at affordable rates. “This is a new growth area for our group,” she says. “Clients like options, and our flexible space solutions give them a choice.”

Mansour says South African entrepreneurs and small-to-medium business owners have very specific workspace and business support needs.

“We traveled extensively and observed and researched the ways in which co-working is presented and put together around the world; they are all very similar but still have unique aspects which are determined by local realities. We spent much time ensuring that our model works for the business owner in South Africa, making it very convenient and very affordable because we really believe in assisting small businesses to grow.”

Mansour says there’s strong competition from players such Regus, Business Centre, The Business Exchange, Flexible Workspace and Office Block. But, she says, competitive pricing, flexible terms and client service are the differentiators.

To date, XtraSpace has opened serviced and cowork spaces in Melrose Arch (August 2014), Sunninghill (December 2014), Durban (December 2014), Morningside Manor (August 2015), One Chadwick in Sandton (January 2016), VCC in Pietermaritzburg (February 2016), Midrand (February 2016), Centurion (June 2016), Randburg/Linden (August 2016).

The Workspace at The Club in Hazelwood, Pretoria, opens in October. Branches in Sea Point and Ballito will follow soon.