Co-working and urban farming may sound like an odd combination, but not to Robert Li. The founder and CEO of O2Work believes it is the way for- ward as people prioritize health and wellness at the workplace.
"In the beginning, some members were shy, and said things like, 'Oh, we don't cook'," says Jenny Liu, COO and environ- mental engineer at O2Work. "But when they realize that the vegetables are fresh, pesticide-free and we have a wide variety — from kale to lettuce and kaixin — they even recommended them to their friends."
Members of O2Work, which number more than 600 today, are given bags of vegetables every three to four weeks, or whenever the vegetables cultivated at their co-working spaces are harvested. These are grown using the in- door smart eco-farm systems invented by Singrass, another company founded by Li, where he is also CEO and managing director. It focuses on green technology and urban farming.
Hailing from Inner Mongolia, China, Robert Li came to Singapore in 2011 to explore new opportunities. To widen his business contacts in Singapore, Li enrolled in a two-year Executive MBA (EMBA) program at National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School from 2012 to 2014.
Through these courses, Li's interest in sustainability was sparked he founded M Grass International in Singapore, with the Inner Mongolia-based M Grass Ecology and Environment Group taking a minority stake. Li wanted M Grass International to be an "indoor ecological specialist", and began to study how to build plant communities in an indoor environment.
The system is space-efficient, hence it is ideal for both the home and the office, says Li. With multiple shelves vertically stacked like a multistory building, the shelves can have up to 100 different vegetable plantings growing at the same time. The system occupies a footprint of just 0.3m, compared to the average potted plant which occupies a floor area of 1.5m, he adds.
This led to the founding of O2Work, which focuses on creating a workplace that offers members "a healthy, green, relaxed environment, rich in oxygen", says Li. He opened the first O2Work at Odeon Towers in September 2019.
In October 2020, O2Work took up the 13th floor of Income @ Raffles, and in May 2021, it expanded to the 12th floor. The space at Singapore Swimming Club was a collaboration with the club, while the space at Aljunied was a collaboration with Taiwanese tea drink franchise Gongcha. Both are designed as "ecological co-working spaces" and opened in December 2021.
Li sees opportunity for more such collaborations with landlords to create "O2Work satellite offices", as more people prefer to work closer to their home, he says. It is not just commercial office, retail or mixed-use developments that he is open to considering. In the East Coast area, for instance, the management corporation strata title (MCST) of a private condo is looking to convert one of its two event halls into a co-working space and has approached O2Work, according to Li.
He sees both O2Work and Singrass as "complementary businesses". His plan is to grow O2Work in Singapore and eventually expand the business to other countries in Asia, such as Thailand, Indonesia and China.
For more information:
O2 Work
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www.o2-work.com