This is a CTP of initiative: Impact Hub Belo Horizonte (Brazil)
This CTP refers to the changes of address and physical space that IH BH made over its lifetime.
They have been located in three different addresses/ spaces: (1) the first address/ space, in 2011, was at the University of Minas Gerais, where the space was offered at no cost to the organization; (2) the second which was larger and better located, they rented in February 2012, just before the change to the organization's business model. They moved because the University only rented out the space for a one year period; (3) and the third, which was even better located and larger, was a consequence of the second change that was made to the business model. This was intended to accommodate the changes they perceived would be necessary in order to meet the needs of member companies. One of the main needs of the members was to have individual offices, contrary to what is common in the co-working spaces, in which only one big space is shared by members and owners.
The IH Network offers two basic services to the member companies, which are affiliated by paying monthly fees: the shared physical space and the increase of knowledge, cooperation and partnerships between the members and owners, as well as external actors that can contribute in some way to their business. They are a type of incubator company.
Due to this fact, the network´s physical space is a very important issue as it is one of the ways that value is delivered to its members. Since this big, shared and open space was created, it has been considered innovative. The Impact Hub generally works with the concept of sharing a physical space which has no walls, believing that this is a way to generate a great exchange of knowledge between members and as a means to accelerate learning. The last place rented (2015) by IH Belo Horizonte, is in contradiction to the principles of the Global Network.
The new location has two floors, one with built rooms (closed) and the other with an open and shared space.
The interviewee believes that IH BH has a more realistic management style than the rest of the network, engaging and organizing to make the business more interesting for members and owners.
Changes in the IH BH business model required an alteration of the physical space in order to meet the new requirements. These business model changes occurred close in time to the changes in physical space.
However, the main co-producers of the physical changes were not the members and owners themselves, as one might expect in an attempt to adapt the spaces needs. The main co-producers of the physical changes were property owners that requested their properties back, a fact that forced the IH BH to rent new physical spaces for their activities.
External pressure has therefore caused the accelerated change of physical space, considered a critical turning point in the operation of IH BH.
The physical space they inhabited in 2012 was rented in the February of that same year. The business model changed about 5 to 6 months thereafter. The physical space they moved to in 2015 was rented after the new business model was completed, however this was before they themselves had decided it was time to change the physical space.
The two changes of space would have to be made so that they could overcome the challenges. However, both times in which the physical space was altered, the owners of the spaces rented had already asked IH to seek a new property to rent. As a co-working space, physical space is very important to be able to welcome the members and to meet their needs. In general, the physical space was not in a satisfactory state when they first moved in. The change of physical space has a close relationship with the change to the business model as the main service offered by IH BH is the shared space.
November 2011 - Owner requested property back - the University of Minas Gerais warned that they needed to leave the space at the beginning of 2012.
February 2012 - Physical space change - moved to a larger and better location.
April 2012 - Low profitability - Low profitability of space and infrastructure is costly undermining the business profitability.
May 2012 - Low use of physical space - low use of physical space by the members. The physical space remained empty for many hours per day.
July 2012 - Business model change - the owners understood that they needed to change the IH BH business model, establishing six membership plans with monthly fixed prices and six different types of use.
August - December 2012 - Dissatisfaction and shutdown of member companies - some members dissatisfied with the changes left the IH BH.
2014 –Quantity of member companies significantly increased - Even with multiple shutdowns of member companies, IH BH grew from about 20 members to about 100 members.
2014 - Low profitability - profitability remained insufficient for operating costs.
June / July 2015 - Business model change - IH BH changed the business model for the second time. The idea was to charge a higher fee for affiliation and to deliver individual offices for companies that need larger spaces
According to the interviewee, there was no opposition. By contrast, there was support from members for the two physical changes made. The changes were a way of stimulating participation and the member companies became more available and willing to participate: "The change of physical space brought, both times, a very large engagement. When we moved here (2015), we had a day of change with a ‘task force’. I could have hired a truck, but it was not necessary. One of our members who works with hydroponic vegetables production lent us his truck. It was all very engaged. " Both new physical spaces were much better in both location and infrastructure.
The new spaces (2012 and 2015) were larger spaces and better located than the previous spaces. Thus, the owners believed, after the rented spaces, that for these reasons there would be no resistance from the members. Therefore, it was expected that the reception of the members would be positive.
However, the owners were surprised because the changes had enabled more than was expected in participation, engagement and interest from members.
"We were sure that it was necessary to change, it was not working, we knew the path. We knew what it was, but how to make the transition, how? (...) I think that (...) it's difficult to balance what was before ... what would be ...the correct time to communicate, to not cause problems, not for us or for others. What changed was the time of things. We did not think it would be slow, it took more time than we expected".
The successive changes of physical space in short periods caused the owners to pay more attention to what was happening in their surroundings. The interviewee says that today they are more careful, reflect more about the pros and cons of new advances or new activities, and try to better monitor the uncontrollable factors of the environment.
The interviewee also says he learned to observe the correct time of things in business. She is young and founded the IH BH when she left university, had little experience and thought that a physical change required less time to perform: "In my mind, change can be made from one day to the other and until we put everything in place it took about 15 days”.
Stay informed. Subscribe for project updates by e-mail.
