Johannesburg, 16 November, 2005 - South Africa’s commercial property owners need to catch up with the needs of small and start-up businesses.  This is the view of Andre Sharpe, CEO of Habitaz, which specialises in professional virtual office infrastructure

“The last decade has seen a dramatic change in South Africa’s business landscape with the emergence of the small office/home office (SOHO), mobile workforce and an increase in entrepreneurs for whom time is money,” Sharpe says.

“However commercial property owners have not taken their very specific needs into account, such as length of lease agreements.  For a young start-up business the risk of taking a three to five year lease is too high, and if they do take a lease, space allocations are often too rigid. Start-ups don’t always know how much space they will need.  Facilities are not available to provide benefits of economies of scale.”

“The emergence of the small business as the driving force behind South Africa's economy has resulted in a strong need for a virtual and shared office infrastructure without the hassle of having to establish a fully equipped and thus costly base of operations.”

Changing work patterns brought about by technology, connectivity and outsourcing models means more and more companies don’t have the need for a permanent office infrastructure. There is also a growing trend towards working from home, on-site with clients or being mobile and on the road.

“These trends mean that a lot more people need an office some of the time and only want to pay for it when they use it” says Sharpe. What the traditional property market offers is out of reach for many companies

Habitaz meets this demand with office packages designed to suit any shape or size of small business that includes virtual office services, shared offices and meeting rooms. 

“Habitaz's CoreOffice product provides companies with a virtual office environment to suit their specific requirements,” says Sharpe. “What's more, our packages start from as little as R750 per month. This enables the user to focus on building their business without the heavy investment in services such as PBX, office equipment, property leases or back office staff required for a conventional business infrastructure.”

Habitaz offers a unique workspace product whereby people can use the office infrastructure on an ad-hoc basis, say for 40 hours a month. “We create economies of scale for companies to afford a professional office and back-office services.” he says.

Habitaz believes that business people should only pay for the business services and infrastructure they need. “By eliminating much of the back office work, our clients can dedicate more of their time to growing their businesses. We guarantee that what we offer out clients will cost less than if they did it for themselves. For the thousands of small businesses that are finding their feet in South Africa, this is good news.”