In Beijing: a cafe has become the place to be for entrepreneurs

Between 2008 and 2010, more than 10 million entrepreneurs went in to business in China (Source: Peopledaily.cn). The status, which until now had been more popular with Europeans and Americans, had won over a lot of young Chinese people.

In the Chinese Silicon Valley, in the province of Zhongguancun, two Chinese web giants were born, Sina and Tencent. In 2011, in Beijing, an innovative space called the Garage Cafe opened. The manager, Su Di, a former banker, created this co-working site to enable all entrepreneurs, for the cost of a coffee, to have access to a dynamic and inclusive working environment. The Garage Cafe gives an equal chance to all projects, even though 90% of them fail. This area for work and critical exchange is favourable to the creation and development of start-ups: the planning of projects, partnerships, functioning material, development of strategy. Professionals, like Su Di himself, are on hand every day to advise each entrepreneur, support their project and increase their professional network. The creator of MomentCam, Huang Guangming, went into business thanks to the Garage Cafe: his photo-editing application has already been downloaded more than 300 million times. Ten start-ups can work alongside each other in this co-working cafe. The lengthy availability allows people to organise their business as they see fit.

An article in Techcrunch.com compared this venue to Mark Zuckerberg’s garage. Techinasia advises young entrepreneurs to start working there. Coworkplanet counts the Garage Cafe as one of the best co-working spaces in Asia. One video on Youtube explains how the cafe works.

Practical information: 48 Haidian W Ave. At 2/F of 鑫鼎宾馆, Beijing/opening hours: from 8h30 to 22h30