Female entrepreneurs turn their dream into a successful social business
March 8th
12 years ago, two women dreamt of being able to help female entrepreneurs, mothers, and women in general to grow their impact in the labor market, recognizing their value and strength. With the approach “the more you give, the more you get”, they founded the social business Loffice that is now running several coworking spaces in Budapest and Vienna.
In 2009, Kata and Panni Klementz, the two sisters and female founders behind Loffice, opened their first office in the centre of Budapest, offering coworking stations on 6 floors as well as meeting and event spaces. We spoke with the two social entrepreneurs about the idea behind their social business, their successes and aspirations as well as their personal advice to fellow female entrepreneurs.
How does Loffice support female working professionals and mothers?
Kata: We established the Loffice Coworkid Foundation with the aim to provide development opportunities and align career goals of parents, mostly mothers, with the needs of corporate employers. We help parents to return to the labor market after maternity leave by inspiring them to discover new competencies born out of parenthood and to make use of them at work too.
Panni: Our free online and offline workshops are organized around the pillars “job search”, “recruitment and career guidance” as well as “entrepreneurship”. The focus lays thereby on topics such as finance, legal issues, marketing or business management know-how. In these workshops, we not only prepare parents for starting their own business and provide them with practical skills, but also offer a platform, where they can grow their network.
What were your biggest successes so far?
Kata: Expanding our locations not only in Budapest, but also to Vienna in 2011, while at the same time being able to support more and more women, was already a great success for us. This was all possible thanks to a supportive and open-minded community. But we are especially proud, that we managed to open our new HQ in the midst of a global pandemic. No one thought two years ago that we would open the doors to our new office in a situation, where everyone else would close them. Also, we are very happy about the several awards, such as the Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Design Office of the Year, Best Coworking Space or Green Building we’ve won since starting our business 12 years ago.
What advice would you give to other female entrepreneurs?
Panni: Finding and then keeping a work-life balance can be quite challenging. This is especially true if you have children and need to juggle everything at the same time. We encourage all working moms and women to prioritize according to their ‘inner voice’ and try to organize their work and family lives according to it. Nobody needs to be superwoman. Accepting help and support is not a weakness at all – whether it’s help around the household, with the children, or the trust of well-educated colleagues.
Kata: Often all you have to do is go for it: believe in yourself and your ideas and gather a reliable team around you. Doing business can be though, so it’s not easy for neither women nor men to succeed in this field. We need to be consistent, persistent and flexible and always have a good accountant and a legal expert around. It’s good, if you have a plan and don’t leave anything to chance, but most importantly: don’t be afraid. Brace yourself with strength, inspiration and motivation from others’ success and best practices.
How do you feel about working together with Erste Social Banking?
Kata: All the financial and educational support that Erste Social Banking provides to NGOs and organizations with a social impact is very exemplary. It’s always a pleasure to see when such a big organization doesn’t forget about the little ones. In addition, Erste always supports initiatives that reduce inequalities and help improve the lives of those in need.
What are your future plans for Loffice?
Panni: We are currently working on offering additional business services that are not tied to a physical space, but still in line with our core values. We want to offer new workspace solutions and put more emphasis on B2B services by sharing our knowledge about designing flexible and agile workspaces as well as helping companies to adjust their office spaces to post-pandemic needs. We hope that once the pandemic subsides, we can organize face-to-face events again and thereby expand our community, which will also help us to increase our social impact on more and more women in it.
We are open in Déri Miksa street!
November 24th
From now on, you can find our coworking office at 6 Déri Miksa street. Come in and take a look around our brand new space in one of the most exciting neighborhood of the city. Book your desk, a meeting room and over a coffee, find out which coworking package suits you the best!
Bring a surprise box and make a kid happy in Christmas 💜
November 9th
This year, we would like to make Christmas a little brighter for the children at the Dankó Street kindergarten. Join us! 🎄
Designing our new space in Loffice Déri
October 27th
Here we are with probably the most exciting part of our behind the scenes series: how will the new Loffice coworking space look like & what were the driving factors during the interior design process.
From stationery shop to coworking space
August 23rd
Our behind the scenes series of our office in Déri Miksa Street continues. In this next episode we'll take a look at the essential aspects of a coworking office interior design and help you to visualise the layout of our office designed along these principles. Stay tuned!
Behind the Loffice scenes - the location
August 9th
Why the neighbourhood of Rákóczi Square in Csarnoknegyed is so vibrant? Learn the details of the chosen location and premise of our soon-to-launch new office.
Cool summer offer from Loffice
July 22nd
Our new hourly coworking packages tailored to your needs are now available! If you're trying to schedule some beach time in your working hours this summer, we've got you covered with our brand new, hour-based packages! Now it’s up to your decision how you split your time between attending the coworking space or taking pleasure in something else.
A brand new Loffice venue is in the making!
July 7th
The journey of Loffice continues, we are expanding in the wonderful District 8! You may have heard that a brand new Loffice venue is in the making. Giving space for the growth of our tenants we decided to move the coworking office to one of the most upcoming streets of the neighbourhood - only 2 blocks away from Salétrom street.
Swing into the saddle!
June 3rd
June 3rd is World Bicycle Day! We believe in the power of sharing and sharing the streets by walking, using a bike, roller, public transportation or other non-fossil based shared transport, we can contribute to a more comfortable and less crowded city with cleaner air.
Price change to our services
March 4th
Changes to our coworking & meeting room fees are valid from 1st April.
A different women's day - let's help together!
March 2nd
Join our fundraising for mothers and their children fleeing the war in Ukraine.
Business Jump Expert Date
June 16th
Is your idea beyond borders? Do you want to start a unique & creative business in the Austrian market? We help you make the jump!
Together we can make it - Christmas Charity Campaign
December 1st
With the help of our community, this year again we want to make Christmas more beautiful for those in need. Here's how you can help.
The real estate market is in transition. What responses can a family business provide to these changes?
November 24th
Besides being tenants of our Paulay Ede Street’s loft - it’s always a pleasure to work with Mastercard.They recently invited us to participate in one of their exciting projects with the CEMS students from Corvinus University- and we joined happily.
Sunset yoga at the rooftop
October 8th
Kick-start the weekend with a refreshing community experience at the rooftop of Loffice - our friend and yoga teacher of Muditayoga, Noémi Lőwy + Loffice Team look forward to see you!
Art Mystery #6
September 30th
Find out which artist is hidden in our art mystery - a monthly quiz game by Loffice & artmagazin!
Garden Brunch Party
July 6th
Call for a toast! Let's clink glasses & thank to all the people and professionals who contributed to the construction of our new home - join us for a little celebratory garden brunch on 9th July at the inner garden of the Salétrom 4. building!
Coworking & co-wining
July 2nd
Enjoy the summer, the fresh air, excellent wines, the smooth waves of Lake Balaton + 20% Loffice-discount all summer on any room booking at Kristinus Wine Estate!
Everything you need to know about the new Loffice building in Budapest
April 17th
After more than a decade Loffice is starting a new chapter in the up and coming 8th district of Budapest. The house, in the historic red-light district, will not only be a new centre for the start-up scene, it has been completely reborn as a whole complex - from coworking and coliving to meeting and event space, you can find everything.
Coworkid has been rewarded!
February 11th
Coworkid is also a transparent business, in fact, a 'Good example' of all the business players out there! Long live the transparent Hungarian business culture and the initiative of Bridge Budapest - we hope we can really inspire many others to a value-based business operation.
Hygenie & health protocol
March 16th
Please take a moment to read our announcement & etiquette with respect to COVID-19 and the related current international situation.
