Meeting rising demand for flexspace in the Americas, Guillermo Pina has ambitions to create a network of Regus centres throughout Honduras.

Guillermo Pina has been working in real-estate for many years. His family business, Grupo Premier, manages different commercial real-estate assets in various cities across Honduras. Grupo Premier has a mission to provide job opportunities that, in turn, improve the communities in which they operate.

Grupo Premier’s work has been recognized nationally by Fundahrse for the last three years in a row. Fundahrse is a foundation that promotes businesses who contribute towards sustainable economic development, and improve quality of life among employees, their families, and local communities.

Now he’s branching into flexspace, bringing that same passion to developing and running IWG centres in the Central American region.

Pina became an IWG franchise partner in 2019, agreeing to open three centres in Honduras over five years. The first is in the capital, Tegucigalpa. Regus Torre Nova II opened in October 2020 and is located in one of the busiest commercial, banking and transportation areas in the city. 

It sits on the ninth floor of the Novacentro Shopping Centre – a mixed-use development housing high-end stores, restaurants and a cinema, with other tenants in the building including major multinational enterprises, including Microsoft, Banrural, Bayer and Startek.

The centre covers 1,160sqm and is divided into different dedicated spaces for coworking, meeting rooms and executive lounges, which can be redesigned according to a client’s needs.

It is Pina’s first franchise business and he chose flexspace in response to the accelerated adoption of hybrid working around the world. “As our clients started asking if we could provide them with flexible workspace locations, it became clear to us that this was the ideal time to enter the flexspace industry and partner with Regus, who are the global leaders in the space,” he says.

“We believe there is a growing market for flexible workspaces, especially since the pandemic. Our goal in Honduras is to become the market leader in this industry and we are looking forward to expanding into other Central American countries.”

Indeed, there has been rising demand for IWG’s flexible workspaces across the American markets – from the USA, Canada and Mexico to Chile, Argentina and Colombia. IWG’s CEO for The Americas, Wayne Berger, predicts the sector will continue to grow at its current, rapid pace, mainly due to the structural shift in workplace habits fuelled by the pandemic, but also thanks to the development of technology such as 5G, which is enabling flexible and remote working practices.

One of the challenges Pina had, however, was opening in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. He explains they were able to weather the storm by focusing their marketing on clients that were ready to return to the office, even on a small scale.

He also says that the pandemic has been a key driver in the growth of the flexible office market.

IWG has worked closely with Pina throughout the process.

“Working with Regus has been great, it was the best decision we could have made to partner with the market leader,” he says. “It brings name recognition, tools, technology, guidance, expertise and support to our operations, which provide a solid foundation for our growth and success.”

His goal now is to open more locations in different cities and to build a network of centres throughout the country. His company is already exploring property options for its second Regus centre in San Pedro Sula, Honduras’ second-largest city, by the end of next year. This will allow him to have a presence in the two most-important cities in the country – the capital and the industrial hub.

It may be early days for the franchise, but Pina has some advice for anyone else considering partnering with IWG.

“Maturity takes time, so be patient and plan accordingly,” he says. “But you will be given a lot of support along the way and ultimately the business will stabilise and give you a good return on investment.”

Flexible workspace is the fastest-growing sector of the global workplace market. Make the most of this exciting investment opportunity by partnering with IWG today.