Coworking: The Ikigai way

The concept of flexible and shared workspaces isn’t new to Nairobi or Kenya. However, Ikigai Nairobi’s approach – focusing on wellness, sustainability, and community – is unique.

Ikigai Nairobi is a collective of biophilic-inspired, wellness-focused coworking spaces across the bustling city. Curated to cater for the needs of individuals, teams, SMEs, and large organisations, Ikigai offers beautifully designed private and shared workspaces, meeting rooms, and event spaces.

“We spend most of our time at work; almost 90,000 hours over our working years, up to a third of our entire existence! This is A LOT of time in the office, and it is the reason we care so much about the work environments we create. We acknowledge that our members and team will spend a large part of their day with us,” says Co-Founder of Ikigai Nairobi, Nyambura Gichohi-Mills.

Ikigai strives to create healthy workspaces that promote wellness, productivity, and opportunities to connect, in a comfortable environment. “We wanted our spaces to feel not quite like home and not quite like your office, but that tiny sliver in the middle of home and work that allows you to be relaxed enough to engage and connect and build positive relationships with others, and focused enough to be effective at work,” Nyambura explains, adding: “Essentially, we wanted to create spaces for individuals and businesses to thrive.”

If you have visited any of the Ikigai locations in Lavington, Riverside, Lower Kabete, Westlands, and more recently on Brookside Drive, you know that they excel at this. If not, the following is a recount of what to expect at Ikigai.

Community

Ikigai emphasises that it is not a serviced office provider, but a coworking space. What’s the difference? The emphasis on community. Each location is thoughtfully designed to facilitate interactions. From the shared workspaces and meeting rooms to areas such as the kitchens, everything is intentionally curated to foster connections and nurture relationships.

The area that truly stands out as the heart of the community is the Roasted Truth café, available at each Ikigai. This is a social hub for Ikigai members to engage with the Ikigai team, catch up with the barista team, or enjoy a variety of snacks while retelling the activities of their day to a fellow member.

Community extends beyond the members to the sense of collaboration fostered with the different service providers that support Ikigai’s mission for healthier and happier teams. A quote on the Ikigai website reads: “Community is at the heart of everything we do because we believe that the collective can achieve greatness.” This ethos guides the collaborative spirit that exudes from the Ikigai team and ensures members are well-cared for. 

Wellness

One of Ikigai’s many unique qualities is their approach to wellness. Guided by the eight dimensions of wellness, Ikigai aims to offer a robust range of initiatives that cater for the physical, mental, social, occupational and environmental wellbeing of their members. This is evident in the programming offered across the locations.

Firstly, the event programme features multiple opportunities for the Ikigai community to connect, including monthly member mixers, member-led knowledge sharing sessions, and networking events such as the popular Hanashi series to facilitate connection, personal growth opportunities, and collaboration within the community.

Secondly, the workspace provider has collaborated with multiple fitness teams, namely Kanga Studio Nairobi and CrossFit Kwetu, to include wellness programmes as part of their membership offering. Members and the wider Nairobi network are encouraged to participate in a variety of physical activities such as yoga, meditation and an outdoor bootcamp. At the newest location, the Ikigai team has kitted out a Wellness Studio with spin bikes, weights and yoga mats to allow members to include an aspect of physical wellness into their day at their convenience.

Lastly, but the most striking, is how Ikigai integrates biophilia into all their workspaces. The Ikigai collective of workspace features two kinds of work settings – within Grade A commercial buildings and in breath-taking lush garden locations. This element of the business’ design was intentional to prioritise the health and wellbeing of all who access the workspaces.

Locations such as Ikigai Lavington, Ikigai Riverside and Ikigai Brookside, boast more than 300 plants each, creating a sense of the outdoors indoors. The garden locations feature one-of-a kind outdoor meeting rooms that combine nature and functionality. This is closely linked to Ikigai’s commitment to environmental sustainability.

Sustainability

Sustainability is a core part of the experience at Ikigai. Guided by the WELL Building Standard, Ikigai is thoughtful and intentional in creating spaces that blend into the natural environment to nurture healthy and happier teams. This goes beyond programming, and includes the spaces selected to host an Ikigai location, the materials used to build the workspaces, and everything thereafter.

Ikigai has implemented multiple initiatives to ensure sustainability is at the forefront of the organisation’s activities. For instance, unique to the garden locations in Lower Kabete and Westlands, Ikigai’s iconic container offices are made of natural materials, wood and steel, resulting in beautiful private offices for teams of two or more. The container offices are one of the many features that are made of locally sourced materials such as wood, steel, glass and interesting textures that have become Ikigai’s design signature.

Additionally, the team at Ikigai has implemented activities such as installing solar panels and rainwater harvesting systems at their Westlands location, setting the foundation for their member-led vegetable garden by nurturing fruits and herb gardens at their Lower Kabete Space, and installing HEPA filters at all their commercial locations to improve air quality.

All these and more have contributed to Ikigai’s goals to be carbon neutral by 2030 and to grow the Ikigai membership base, as like-minded individuals and companies look to work from environments that exemplify their values.

Ikigai Nairobi is more than just a collective of workspaces; it is an innovative model of how work environments can enhance and promote wellness, foster community and champion sustainability. From their biophilic designs and diverse programming, Ikigai demonstrates that thoughtful, beautifully designed spaces can have a profound impact on individuals, organisations and communities.

To learn more about Ikigai and how to join their community, visit their website or any of their breath-taking locations across Nairobi in Lavington, Riverside, Westlands, Lower Kabete and recently, Brookside Drive.