It’s a pleasant office, with yellow on the walls, wooden floors, large armchairs with wheels and spacious work tables. Exactly like in a shared office, except that we are here in Bondy, in Seine-Saint-Denis, in a rather dilapidated building block and destined for destruction. And above all, that the rent here is only 30 euros per month, which is about ten times cheaper than a classic coworking space. These are the premises of My first office, which claims on its site to be “the cheapest coworking space in Île-de-France”.
“Making coworking accessible to all” is the motto of the initiative launched in 2016 by Benoît Delol, who is in his third solidarity coworking space. The objective is to make coworking accessible both from a financial point of view but also from a “geographical” point of view, because there are few coworking spaces outside of Paris.
A third comes from Bondy
“In Bondy there was nothing, not even in Noisy or Raincy”, explains Danya, 32, a Bondynoise who used to go so far to cafés or “day-to-day” spaces, very punctually because of their high price, when she could no longer stay at home. A digital strategy consultant, trainer and entrepreneur, she joined the Mon premier bureau adventure in September, following a long six-year parental leave. The confinement convinced her that there was no question of working non-stop at home. “It allowed me to revitalize my way of working, especially after two years of confinement”, explains the one who created a female entrepreneurship platform, lesmamassitas.fr.
Danya occupies with about fifteen other “subscribers”, as Benoît Delol calls them, the 54m2 space, for five or six shared workstations. But as the coworkers and coworkers are never all there at the same time, no traffic jam. A third comes from Bondy, according to the president of My first office, the others from neighboring towns. Apart from Josiane, 35, Parisian and above all craftswoman, to whom Mon premier bureau offers a real workshop.
“It enriched me and gave me courage”
Her room is full of even more colors. On a shelf, gold, red and black shoes hang over shimmering dresses. A butcher’s cabinet sits in the middle of the room, which acts as a workbench, with a sewing machine. A mannequin is next to it, with on the wall, a mirror and the “stylized humorous drawings” of Josiane, who is in the process of composing a book with these small compositions of slender women.
“I draw, I sew, for women and for dolls too! she said, showing us some very chic haute couture barbies. Josiane, who has been there since December, has launched her own brand, christina è giò, whose parts it intends to start selling soon. What seemed like a dream to him just a few months ago has come true, and the association that hosts his office has a lot to do with it. “It enriched me and gave me courage. When you’re a woman and you start an entrepreneurship, it’s not easy. At first I didn’t think I would open a workshop, but now I tell myself that anything is possible! “, she says, quoting Marylin Monroe: “We are all stars, we just have to learn to shine”.
“Most people here wouldn’t have come for €80 or €100 a month”
“Trust” is also the word brandished by Leslie, 31, who arrived in March after a master’s degree in ergonomics. Like many others, she searched the Internet for a cheap coworking space near her home, and realized that there was practically nothing, except precisely this space. “Most people here would not have come for €80 or €100 a month,” says Benoît Delol, citing the case of an ex-coworker who had left a former association office because he could no longer afford it. financially, when it was still two prices at 99 and 49 euros.
Like all shared offices, Mon premier bureau offers the opportunity to forge links with other entrepreneurs or freelance employees, a working atmosphere “conducive to creativity” according to Fatou, 23, who has set up a digital beauty and well-being marketing agency. . “We give each other ideas and support. And the library is not ideal when you have to make phone calls! “.
The association must leave the premises
Despite all these advantages, the association had to leave the premises on Sunday, because the bar of the building in which it has taken up residence will be destroyed. It was planned in advance, the association had signed a contract to this effect with the community of communes Est ensemble and the social rental company 3F, and even squatted the premises for two more months.
However, everyone is sad to leave, and Benoît Delol is now struggling to find a more permanent place. “It’s an obvious idea that must be taken up,” insists the president of the association, who sent an invitation to the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, to the Secretary of State for the Economy. social and solidarity, Marlène Schiappa, to the president of the Ile-de-France region, Valérie Pécresse, and to the president of the department, Stéphane Troussel.
“It’s a new public service”
For the moment, only an adviser to the president of Seine-Saint-denis has come, which is discouraging Benoît Delol, who has the impression that politicians do not take the measure of what his association represents. . “Political decision-makers need to integrate this new need. It’s a new public service,” he said.
And it’s not the other coworkers who will contradict it, as everyone is convinced of the significant boost that this device has given them. Danya also strongly pleads for the initiative to be “multiplied in working-class neighborhoods”: “It’s really important to have a network. How else can you do it when you’re in a dynamic town but where there’s no meeting space with other creators? »