Love The Co’s community-centric approach to co-working areas? Well, get ready for some great news because we just hired Haider Shah as its head of franchising for the UAE.

To start with — yes, we’re looking to expand! While it’s normal to see the brands in multiple countries (or sometimes even the same city), the actual behind-the-scenes of franchising is actually quite complex. As Haider says: it’s a commitment. So, we consider our future franchise partners ones that we’ll have long-term relationships with — partners who believe in our vision and are a cultural fit.

With a keen business sense which he has proven again and again in his career, Haider, is the perfect fit to lead our growth. Haider is originally from the US, where he earned almost a decade’s worth of experience in tech. His career includes building a tech back in the internet’s early days, which he then sold and exited. He then moved to Pakistan and ran two successful franchises of Gloria Jean's Coffees during the local coffee culture boom. This was how he found his passion for the Food & Beverage industry.

An encounter at a food conference in Dubai in 2010 bore fruit in the form of a business deal that lasted almost 9 years for Haider, paving the path for him score another business exit. Following, he moved to the UAE.

At The Co-Dubai, the vision is our community — you, who’s reading this! At our core, we believe in changing the way people see co-working spaces because they can be so much more than just another office space. After all, a co-working space should be more than a place where you come, work, and leave — that sounds an awful lot like a dreary old office cubicle, doesn’t it? When you’ve got different people with different experiences and ideas in this one beautifully convenient place — how can you not want to work on your ideas together? And so we’ll strive to find partners with this very same vision whilst we map out our expansion.

If you’re at The Co-Dubai and spot Haider, please do say hi — he’d love to get to know the local community. Additionally, if you’d like to know more about our franchising or investment opportunity (or know someone who might be) please also feel free to have a chat with Haider about it.