Damosa Land, Inc (DLI), the city-based property developer, and International Workplace Group (IWG), the leading flexible workspace provider with brands such as Regus, Spaces, and HQ, announced yesterday the significant milestones related to their franchise partnership agreement signed last year.
In a briefing, the two organizations presented the Regus Felcris Centrale and HQ Topaz that opened this year, as well as the near completion of Regus Diamond Tower located in DLI’s Diamond Tower, the most anticipated 15-story landmark in Davao City. Heads and members of chambers of commerce, heads of Davao City Investment Promotion Center and Information and Communication Technology, select brokers and media were present at the briefing.
The opening of two IWG franchise centers under DLI has come alongside the growth in flexible working in the suburbs and local regions. Lars Wittig, country manager Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, South Korea, IWG, said, “The future of work is in the hybrid model. With the pandemic or not, the demand for flexible workspaces in the provinces has been growing tremendously. Employees have a clear preference for flexible working with its work-life balance benefits and both local and multinational companies recognize the role it plays in securing and retaining the best talent.”
Wittig continued, “We are honored to share with DLI our expertise in the flexible working industry as they now operate their own Regus and HQ centers in Davao. While the community begins to recover, we can see that these flexible workspaces are going to help the local economy create new jobs, stimulate business growth in the region, and improve productivity for enterprises.”
IWG’s entry into Davao City in 2016 was also through a partnership with DLI. It resulted in the Regus Damosa Topaz Tower, the first flexible work center in Mindanao and one of IWG’s most successful centers in the Philippines. Now, this center is re-branded as HQ Topaz, marking it as the first-ever HQ center and one of the largest IWG centers in the Philippines. Among the IWG workspaces, HQ Topaz offers practical workspace amenities that prove beneficial to work productivity.
Meanwhile, the Regus Felcris Centrale in the heart of Davao City provides local and multinational companies an unparalleled network of office, co-working, and meeting spaces. Now a Regus franchise center, Felcris Centrale benefits its tenants with a global network of workspaces that enable people to work where, when, and how they want.
Ricardo F. Lagdameo, DLI president, said, “We are hopeful that the brighter prospects in the overall property industry in the Philippines will continue to fuel the growth in more investment opportunities in Mindanao. With the government’s initiatives for vaccination rollout and its support for investors who are expanding to the provinces, we are confident that we are ready to welcome local entrepreneurs and multinational companies in our Regus Felcris Centrale and HQ Topaz.”
The study also revealed the economic benefits of these suburban spaces and found the ‘flex economy’ could contribute more than $254 billion to local economies in the next decade. It also found that by 2029, there could be a total of just over 74,000 people working at local Business Centres across the Philippines, providing net additional employment opportunities for local residents amounting to over 31,600 jobs.
Lagdameo added, “Our solid partnership with IWG allows us to bring the world-class benefits of flexible working to the businesses and professionals in Mindanao. Our strong partnership has been built on shared values and drives to succeed, and this will further remain especially with the guidance of IWG’s global brand equity and resilient business model.”
With the completion of Damosa Diamond Tower in June 2021, DLI will soon announce the launch of Regus Diamond Tower in early next year, marking the third IWG center in Davao City. Under the franchise partnership agreement, DLI will be granted the exclusivity to develop and operate eight IWG centers across Mindanao in the cities of Davao, Cagayan de Oro, and General Santos.
As an IWG franchise partner, DLI’s workspaces will become part of the globally recognized IWG brand and benefit from its 30 years of experience as an industry leader. IWG brands, which include Regus, SPACES, and HQ, serve the workspace needs of millions of members and users around the world.
