More than just a physical location: A tour of Hub One’s space in Yaba
On January 31, 2019, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) launched Hub One to provide an affordable and enabling enviroment where tech startups can thrive, collaborate and share ideas.
Located in the heart of Yaba, Lagos. This state-of-the-art yet very functional co-working space is great for birthing ideas and championing revolutionary solutions to the nation’s challenges leveraging tech.
“It was launched in partnership with Passion Incubator, the parent company of LeadSpace,” said Udoh Kelven, Head of Communications and Marketing at Passion Incubator. “LeadSpace manages operations here at Hub One.”
Hub One offers its members co-working spaces, unlimited internet, constant power supply, free coffee, and other basic infrastuctural needs which many startups seem to lack.
According to Udoh, Hub One accepts only tech startups and its application process is quite simple.
“Once you reach out to us through our website, we ensure that you a registered tech company. Then you’ll be required to fill out a form giving us the necessary information we need to prequalify you.”
With Udoh as our guide, we recently took a tour of the Hub One space. Here’s what it looks like.
Welcome to Hub One!
The beautifully designed waiting area and lounge
The kitchenette
Here, members get free coffee, tea and water. They also have an office assistant that helps them run errands.
Hello!
This is the phone booth where members of Hub One go to make and receive calls to avoid distracting other members of the community.
The work spaces
Hub One provides shared spaces for startups cut across all industries ranging from fintech to eCommerce, edutech and proptech, among others. And it offers various subscription plans.
All plans include access to power, the internet, kitchenette, meeting rooms, printer and scanner.
An additional workspace
Lockers
These lockers are assigned to each startup that uses the space.
Another workspace
The small meeting room
According to Udoh, the room is usually used for quick meetings or if the bigger meeting room is already booked.
“We have an online booking system in place which our members use to ensure proper scheduling and to avoid meeting clashes.”
More work spaces
A relaxation space
The big meeting room
Unlike the small meeting room, this one has a projector.
Aside from the co-working space, Hub One also provides its members with access to knowledge and funding opportunities.
“We go beyond just providing them with power and Internet. Every month, we host ‘Epic Hour’- a knowledge-sharing event where we invite top players in the tech ecosystem to share their experiences, Epic Hour also allows for networking and cross pollination of ideas ”.
“Through Hub One, a couple of our members have gotten funding and accelerator program opportunities.”
Faces at Hub One
The Hub One space is simple, yet it exudes a huge sense of community, collaboration and innovation. It truly represents FCMB’s commitment towards the development of the tech startup ecosystem.
