Features & Interviews

Where to work? Your complete guide to Phnom Penh’s hotdesking, coworking and shared office spaces

The coworking space boom in Phnom Penh means there’s a right fit out there for everyone.

Published on August 6, 2019

Phnom Penh’s rapid development over the past few years has attracted a rush of migrants to the city – Cambodians and foreigners alike – looking to be part of the growth. This influx of new business developers and digital nomads has also given rise to an onslaught of affordable office and coworking spaces.

Yes, the city has a slew of cafes from which you can work, but sometimes you need the extra space, peace and quiet, easy access to office machines like printers, an address to receive mail or simply desk drawers. Here’s a rundown of some of the many office-like offerings the capital has to offer.

Coworking Today

With an entrance through a Coffee Today, Coworking Today is a Khmer-owned and mostly Khmer-patronised office and coworking space, located next to Olympic Stadium. Simple, sunlit, and quiet, this is most popular for those looking for affordable private rooms from which to work.

The shared coworking space only contains three large desks (though another area is planned, which will have standing desks as well), but as most customers opt for the private offices, there is still plenty of space. “I try to be flexible,” says manager Phalkun Mey; for example, “If people want to move chairs, they can.” There is no kitchen, but there is a water cooler. And members get a 15% discount at the Coffee Today.

The Skinny

Coworking: Monday to Friday, $40/part-time, $60/full-time.

Officespace: Monday to Saturday, $250/month to $650/month

Meeting Room and printer available to members.

Open since April 2018.

Parking with attendant.

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

Emerald Hub

Started as an incubator for Khmer business start-ups, Emerald Hub occupies a large, open desk space on the 11th floor of Phnom Penh International University. Popular with young Khmer entrepreneurs (many of whom seem to be working together), the room can fill up – though there are many desks, so you should be able to find a seat.

Office spaces surround the large common area; the eating area and water cooler is located in the hallway. The meeting room is only available for members who have a private room. Emerald Hub offers mentoring events and training workshops that are open to all members.

The Skinny

Hot-desking: Monday to Saturday, $80/month; Fixed desk: $130/month

Small team desk: $130/month; Large team desk: $170/month

Officespace: $250-$550/month

Day pass: $5

Weekday pass: $25/week

Open since 2016.

Parking with attendant.

The Green Penthouse (formerly Outpost)

Not to sound clichéd, but this place must be seen to be believed. Located across the river from downtown Phnom Penh and accessed either by ferry or the Cambodia-Japan Friendship bridge, this multistory coworking and coliving space is a converted family home – custom designed and built for the owner’s family in 2007 and used for the last three years as the coworking space “Outpost”.

You enter the coworking space by, in fact, entering into the family kitchen and living room, complete with a shrine burning incense and a dining room table – all of which is meant for members to “treat as your own” (i.e. large group meals encouraged). It is surrounded by large windows, with 360 degree views and over which is draped hanging greenery that runs down the length of the building.

Continue to the other end of the room, and you pass couches and comfy chairs before ending up outside again, in the location of what will be a “winter garden.” One floor above is the office space, and on the floor above that are bedrooms and living quarters, available for when “tribes of digital nomads” want to rent the space for an extended stay.

Meant to be a community more than simply a workspace, they will also host yoga and ecstatic dance, movie nights, workshops, etc. Under the new leadership of a long-time client and digital nomad and with a new name, the space will officially launch again in September – although it’s currently open if you can’t wait that long. There will be more office space, a new “co-working cafe”, yoga studio, winter garden, and likely much more. “We want to make it into a destination,” says the building’s owner, calling it a “beehive”.

The Skinny

Prices will be announced closer to launch in September.

Parking with attendant.

Office Origin

Located in the central BKK1 neighbourhood, Office Origin is the Cambodian branch of a Singapore office and coworking space company. Its executive director, Jason Lin, is the founder of the separate Singapore Cambodia Business Incubator; the company is ideally suited for outside investment into Cambodia, serving as a remote office address (including business admin support) as well as offering free airport transfers for customers and business advisory for an additional fee.

Because many of their members are outside of the country, hot-deskers looking for an open seat will not have trouble, though the shared space isn’t too large. The seats are very cushy, too. “Our concept is believe in space, with comfortable, Singapore style,” says Lin. The meeting “showroom” is available for rent to nonmembers.

The Skinny

Hot-desking: Monday to Saturday, $100/month; Fixed desk: $200/month

One-day pass: $10

Office spaces: $550/month to $2,000/month (whole floor)

Meeting Room and printer/scanner/copier available to members.

Open since January 2018.

Parking with attendant.

Sahaka

Sahaka, which means “to cooperate” in Khmer, is very quiet, well-lit with natural light and thoughtfully designed with simple yet modern color accents.

Located at the bottom of Toul Tompoung and Cambodian-owned, the clientele is a mix of Khmer and foreigner professionals. The kitchen has coffee and designer tea available for use, as well as telephone rooms so one can take calls without disturbing the silence in the main rooms.

The offices are standard office spaces, though the frosted glass walls are adjustable to suit space needs and each one has a tiny balcony – an interesting characteristic of the building. Meeting rooms are free to use for members, as is the printer…but you must bring your own paper. Something they note is that they have a generator should there be power outages in the city (which, come the hottest months, that really is important).

The Skinny

Hot-desking: Monday to Saturday, $50/part-time; $80/full-time

Fixed desk: $120/month

Team desk: $280/month

Office space: $350-$720/month

Meeting Room and printer available to full-time members.

Open since November 2018.

Limited parking with attendant, or park at the nearby school.

WeShare Hub

Newly opened in May of this year, this small coworking space is legitimately cosy, with large tiled floors and facing a tree-lined street.

Taking up several apartments in French colonial building, the office space has a kitchen (overlooking the interior courtyard), a small nap/quiet room, meeting room with projector, and small office rooms. It also has a bookshelf with titles in Engligh and Khmer.

WeShare Hub hot-desking area feels like a high school library, and indeed many of its clientele are students coming in evenings and weekends, with freelancers taking advantage of the weekday quiet. The Khmer owner was inspired to open the space after she saw similar spaces on a trip to Australia.

The Skinny

Hot-desking: Monday to Sunday, $50/month

Office space: $180-$660/month

Day pass: $4

Meeting Room and printer/scanner/copier available to members. Meeting room rental for non-members.

Open since May 2019.

Unattended parking in front, or parking with attendant at a nearby school.

Photo by Ali Yahya on Unsplash

Workspace 1 at The Factory

Workspace 1 is one of the many unique businesses that has come together to be part of the collective entity called The Factory in the far south of the city. The coworking and office space built in this former garment factory has the feeling of more of a university library and meet-up spot than the site of methodical, mechanical industriousness.

Offering hot-desks and fixed desks amongst bookshelves of literature, potted plants and a swing hanging from the ceiling, it feels comfortable – but not so cosy that you’d want to sleep. The space boasts a kitchen with free coffee, meeting rooms (for which members receive credits to use), a nap room (popular during the post-lunch slump) and showers. It’s definitely set up as a place where you could spend hours while you come up with a mental breakthrough starting your business. It’s become popular enough that they’re opening a Workspace 2 in September with more office spaces. They also offer training sessions that are open to everyone.