Benjamin Teo

A Workplace Revolution

Benjamin Teo takes his job seriously, even during holidays. It was during a leisurely trip to New York a few years ago while looking to get some work done alone that he stumbled upon a co-working space that encaptivated him. “I was taken aback by the sense of community,” he says. It was an inclusive and conducive space with patrons from varied backgrounds engrossed in bountiful interactions. In the air were ideas constantly generated and infectious energy. “They were having fun in the process,” he adds. It was then that Benjamin realised the potential coworking spaces had in Malaysia. We didn’t have anything like it yet at the time. “Hence, I started the ball rolling on what would eventually be Co-labs Coworking,” he says.

As CEO of Paramount Property Development, he oversees several different development projects, including Co-labs Coworking, and a few central functions for the group such as finance, human resource and product design. He puts plenty of effort into conceptualising Co-labs Coworking, not just superficially but also its ecosystem whereby members are given the opportunity to upskill themselves and grow their business. “We hope to drive the evolution of the way Malaysians work. We seek to drive our core values of connectivity, collaboration and community through our offerings to create the best offices in Malaysia. We have a great product and plan to capitalise on this over the next few years. We currently have two locations and aim to triple the number of our spaces in 2019.”