Colabs is a Lahore-based startup that builds and operates co-working spaces in Pakistan. It was started in 2019 by twin brothers; Omar and Ali Shah, and currently operates two spaces in Lahore, with a third on the way. On the surface, it seems like just another coworking operator but what sets it apart is its ambition to create the largest community of entrepreneurs and freelancers in the fifth largest country in the world.
“We want to knit together a community of 100,000 entrepreneurs and freelancers in Pakistan, starting with 5,000 seats within the next two years,” stated Colabs co-founder and CEO Omar Shah in a conversation with MENAbytes. He previously spent 7 years working in Dubai as private equity and venture capital investor in emerging markets including Mexico, UAE, Turkey, and Pakistan, before moving back home to Lahore in 2019, to establish Colabs. Ali Shah, Omar’s twin brother is a real estate developer in Lahore, who leads the family’s construction and development firm, Sabcon, which develops innovative and modern commercial buildings across Lahore in the past decade.
The startup currently has about 700 members who work from its spaces. It expects to add another 400 when it launches its third site early next year. But how can a coworking company in Pakistan with 700 seats build the capacity for 100,000 members over the next five to seven years, we asked Omar.
(For context, WeWork currently has a capacity of about 60,000 seats in India. It entered the market as...
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