Inner city enterprise organisation to create 17 work spaces in key areas

Manchester-based Cariocca Enterprises is set to create 17 new managed work spaces in Miles Platting in response to surging demand from entrepreneurs across the city.

The organisation was founded with charitable aims in 1986 to support entrepreneurialism in Manchester’s inner-city communities. It offers managed work spaces in Miles Platting and Ardwick.

With more than 200 office spaces across both sites nearing full occupancy, Cariocca is set to create the new larger office spaces at its Miles Platting site to replace rooms currently used for storage.

The office spaces will support start-ups which are growing successfully and now need increased capacity and facilities to support their business operations.

Nadia Fortune Nesbit, operations manager at Cariocca, said: “We exist to help support and promote entrepreneurialism within inner-city communities where traditionally people may have felt that even the idea of setting up their own business was an alien concept – something completely unattainable.

“Our idea has always been that our managed office spaces should act as an incubator for entrepreneurs starting out on their business ventures – giving them the facilities and support they need to help get their businesses up and running at affordable rates.

“We’ve been tremendously successful in doing that over the years, and that’s reflected in our high occupancy rates and the increasing demand we are seeing today, but we’ve tended to hide our light under a bushel.

“With work now starting on the creation of brand new office spaces, there’s no better time for us to get the message out loud and clear – we’re here to help support start-ups and SME’s in Manchester and have the infrastructure and support network in place to do just that.

“The 17 new office spaces we are creating will be some of the largest we have on site and will provide our incoming tenants with the space and support they need to run their businesses and continue to grow.”

Although originating from the West Indian Organisation and Coordinating Committee, which worked to provide training support for Manchester’s West Indian community, Cariocca serves to promote entrepreneurialism among all inner city communities.

Cariocca’s managed work spaces are offered to tenants with no long-term lease restrictions to ensure they are not tied down. The organisation also offers training and coaching, with support staff onsite to assist tenants.

As part of its ongoing community outreach initiatives, Cariocca is a judge and investor in Salford University’s Innovating Future Business Competition – a Dragon’s Den style initiative which will see students pitch their business ideas to try and win a share of £5,000.