St George Bank, in a push to attract more SME businesses, has opened a free co-working space in their Central Park office on St George Terrace.
The bank opened a similar space in Chatswood, Sydney, last year and apparently that’s been a great success so they decided to replicate it here.
St.George General Manager of Business Banking, Phillip Godkin said St.George recognises SMEs are the engine room of the Australian economy and the new hub is part of a long term investment to support and strengthen local businesses in Western Australia.
“It’s great to see positive sentiment and a huge appetite for small business growth in Western Australia with 97 per cent of all businesses actively trading as SMEs in the state. We’re really excited to launch the Perth Business Hub and help more Western Australian small businesses get up and running.”
The deal is that anyone can book time in any of the offices or desks, any amount of time apparently, from single hours right up to multiple days. There are a few small offices for teams or meetings, and about a dozen open-plan desks for hotdesking. The desks are equipped with either MacBooks or iMacs already, which is a bit strange, I’m not sure I’d trust personal data or protected work to this arrangement. But you can always bring your own laptop of course.
The bank figures that being close to SME business and helping them will lead to more SME business for them, as part of a larger initiative to get more SME business through their doors. Good to see more attention being focused on this end of the market.
To try the space out and book some time, email [email protected]