Accor’s coworking brand, Wojo, has set its sights on sub-Saharan Africa, following signing an agreement with the hotel investment platform Kasada Capital Management. It is the first time that Wojo, which the hotel giant co-owns with French property company Bouygues, will enter the continent following expanding into Europe and Latin America over the past two years.
Wojo offers solutions suitable for remote work, including “spots” and “corners” as well as desktop sites. Although its stronghold is in France, it operates co-working spaces in 100 hotels in Brazil, with a presence also in Chile, Peru, Colombia and Argentina. This new “master franchise” contract applies to all properties owned by Kasada, which was created in 2018 with the support of the Qatar Investment Authority, as well as Accor.
The tie-up appears to be focused on former French colonies, with Wojo spaces set to be rolled out to hotels in countries such as Ivory Coast, Senegal and Cameroon – where properties like Ibis Douala, which is in the largest city and economic capital of the West African country, will welcome Wojo members in the second half of 2022.
The partnership might prove attractive to global digital nomads wishing to travel and work in familiar hotels across West Africa, although the deal also allows Kasada to operate Wojo spaces in branded hotels. other than Accor, as the agreement covers all of Kasada’s hotels in sub-Saharan Africa.
