Brazil Holds First Shared Workspace Congress

Rio de Janeiro, October 24, 2016 – The National Association of Coworking and Virtual Offices (ANCEV) held the first Shared Offices Congress of Brazil in João Pessoa, Paraíba, last month.

The Northeast of Brazil was chosen to host the event which was attended by virtual offices and coworking owners and managers of Brazil and representatives from the US and Europe.

“We can say that our event was a great success. We had the expectation of a larger audience. However, considering the current economic situation in Brazil and the location, we had an above average range, with representatives from all regions of the country”, said the President of the Association, Ernisio Martines Dias.

Throughout Brazil, 695 Shared Workspaces were recorded according to the Permanent Census of ANCEV. The South and Southeast regions are those with the largest number these types of workplaces, with 359 and 155 respectively, between Coworking, Business Centers and Virtual Offices. On the other hand, the North is the region with less companies in the sector, with only 10 Shared Workspaces.

The speaker Marcos Lourençani, who presented a lecture about “Time Management and Pricing”, talked about his impressions during the congress. “It was fantastic, especially the networking and information exchange in a market that is seeing a competitive growth as this one. These instructions are essential for any business to improve”, said Lourençani.

With extensive market experience, Mauro Koraicho, one of the pioneers of Business Centers in Brazil, was one of the speakers who attended the event and discussed the trends not only from Brazil but also the US. Mauro is a member of ANCEV and also the CEO of Infinity Business Center in Alphaville, São Paulo and Miami.

“I tried to give the associates a realistic view of what is going on in Coworking, Virtual Offices and Business Centers. I gave tips to make the business take off and be successful from both viewpoints: business and financial”, said Koraicho.

The guest speaker from Portugal Carlos Gonçalves, CEO of Avila Business Centers, and author of the book “Out of the Office”, talked about the paradigm shifts of the sector. He made a thorough assessment of the social changes and how it dramatically affected the relationship between leisure and work.

“The purpose of my participation in the congress was to bring a bit of business experience from Europe to Brazil. We had a very interesting sharing, as Europe innovates a lot in this sector. And I also learned a lot about the reality here in Brazil”, said Carlos.

Carlos also brought up the possibility of an edition of the book “Out of the Office” with success stories of Brazil. “There is a possibility of editing the book ‘Out Of The Office’ with the endorsement of ANCEV, with brazilian cases, brazilian companies, which is a great opportunity to publicize the advantages of our working models for entrepreneurs and larger companies”, says the entrepreneur.

“I have been in this market during 12 years and since the beginning I try to attend to these types of events. It is always an advantage to get to know the Brazilian market, and to have this exchange. It is always very interesting to share information and meet people with the same goals”, said Carlos after presenting his lecture to the associates.

The ANCEV Congress clearly worked motivational aspects, and also provided tools for the shared workspace managers to work in their business and strengthen the sector across the country.

The location and date of the next congress have already been pre-set; it will be next year in São Paulo, near the holiday of September 7. The idea is that the 2017 event will be bigger, with more lectures on important issues for the sector, and it will also be open to the public.

About ANCEV

ANCEV is the National Association of Coworking and Virtual Offices (in portuguese: Associação Nacional de Coworking e Escritórios Virtuais). The association was established in 1996 with the aim of unifying the information and services of companies in the sector that were emerging in Brazil.

In 1995 the first shared offices came in Brazil, and in 1996, the former ANCN (current ANCEV) was created.

In 2010, the concept of Coworking became part of the Shared Office derivations in Brazil, and increasingly the term gained prominence and it has established itself as a sector definition. In the following year, 2011, the Virtual Offices started offering multiple spaces for different users, adopting the template of Coworking, as well as services that were previously exclusive features of Virtual Offices.

Currently, ANCEV has a much broader scope, promoting the sector and creating legal regulation grants and qualification of the companies in the sector. ANCEV has nearly 100 associates throughout the country that receive necessary guidance and support for the development of their enterprise.