Long before “coworking” became a buzzword, before freelancers and entrepreneurs flocked to shared spaces with laptops in hand, there was a bold idea that would change the way professionals grew their business.
In 1978, Alfred Moufarrige, an ambitious entrepreneur, had just leased a small office in Sydney, Australia. But instead of keeping it for himself, he saw an opportunity: What if businesses could access prestigious office spaces with a great address, team support, and IT help—without long-term leases and overhead costs?
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This vision laid the foundation for what would later become Company Headquarters, an early iteration of what is now Servcorp. As the business evolved, it embraced a name that hinted at the promise it held: to give businesses, no matter their size, a world-class presence from day one. It was the birth of what we now call the virtual office—and unknowingly, it was also the birth of coworking.
The First True Coworking Space – Before the Name Existed
From the start, Servcorp (as it would later be called) was about helping small businesses grow. Businesses didn’t need to lease an entire office—they could rent space by the hour, drop in when needed, and have access to top-tier facilities. This wasn’t just a shared office; it was a fully serviced business environment.
Entrepreneurs, consultants, and small businesses could walk in, work, and walk out, enjoying unprecedented flexibility that allowed them to scale operations quickly without the risk or expense of traditional leases—with all the advantages of a corporate headquarters at their fingertips.
A receptionist answered calls in their company name, an IT team ensured seamless connectivity, and the space itself gave them an instant sense of legitimacy. Remote work wasn’t just possible—it was seamless, decades before the world caught up to the idea.
Answering Calls the Hard Way
Before switchboards and sophisticated call-routing systems became Servcorp’s standard, receptionists had a row of phones on their desks, each with a different business name taped to the handset. They would answer accordingly, switching between companies with every ring. It was a tedious but ingenious way to make small businesses appear larger and more professional.
A Business Solution Before Its Time
What Servcorp created wasn’t just a collection of offices—it was the precursor to modern coworking. The concept of shared workspaces with built-in services, flexibility, and community was happening within Servcorp’s walls long before the industry gave it a name.
While the world later embraced coworking as a startup revolution, Servcorp had already laid the foundation decades earlier. It proved that businesses of all sizes didn’t need to be tied to a single office to succeed. They needed agility, prestige, and support—and that’s exactly what Servcorp provided.
Today, as coworking spaces fill cities around the world, it’s worth remembering: the movement didn’t start with trendy coffee bars and open-plan offices. It is now driven by a culture of service, enhanced by IT, AI integration and team training from Servcorp.
