When Peter James Doueihi left his engineering career to start his own consulting business in Sydney’s west in 2015, he struggled to find a convenient place to work.
“My first business - I was working in another person's office so when I needed additional staff, I was then looking for my own space to work from,” says Peter.
"It was proving quite a challenge and that's when the idea came to me."
Despite Sydney accounting for 64% of the start-up ecosystem in Australia, Peter struggled to find a co-working space in Western Sydney.
It was from these struggles that led Peter to launch Grounded Space - a co-working space based in Parramatta in Sydney’s west.
The shared office provides networking services for small businesses and concurrently runs a hole-in-the-wall café as well.
That pairing has proven to be a winning combination for Peter.
Grounded Space in Sydney's west is a co-working space and also runs a hole-in-the-wall cafe as well. Source: Supplied
“I love the exposure it had and I knew it was important to get the exposure for a new concept in the area," says Peter.
“What better way to market it than to do a coffee shop, where I could talk to the community and explain what we're doing.”
Since Grounded Space opened in March 2018, café-related sales have more than quadrupled according to Peter.
Cultivating tech in Western Sydney
Farouk Ismail is one of around 22 business owners using Grounded Space.
Farouk quit his banking job earlier this year and founded fintech startup, Pay Later Travel.
“I started working from home, which became pretty daunting after a few weeks, so I started looking around the city because that's where you typically go as a start-up," explains Farouk.
“Then there was the issue of travel, because living in the west; it's a bit of a travel down to the city.”
Since Peter opened the co-working space, he has been able to develop a startup community in the west.
“I think in providing a co-working space that's quite central and in western Sydney, that's going to allow a lot more people out west to pursue their dreams in creating some kind of start-up,” he says.
Peter is now expanding the Grounded Space brand, opening a second branch in Parramatta’s Westfield Shopping Centre in early December and he hopes to continue to foster the start-up culture in Western Sydney.
Source: Supplied
“I hope we can be known as the place to work from the West.
“I'm also hoping that we can educate small business owners and help them operate their businesses a little bit better.
“Although I can't do that, I hope I can make a facility where people can meet to discuss those things.”
