Puja Kapur takes the reins as IWG Global Enterprise Director as firm targets growth in enterprise solutions.

The rapid growth in demand for space-as-a-service solutions among the world’s biggest companies has IWG making a major new appointment.

Puja Kapur has joined IWG as its Global Enterprise Director, a brand-new post created specifically to service the growth in demand for flexible workspace among global mid-large cap and Fortune 500 companies.

With over 15 years of corporate real estate experience in strategic consulting, business development and account management under her belt, Kapur was also a recipient of Silicon Valley Business Journal’s 2016 Women of Influence award and has a MS in Real Estate from Columbia University.

“Having developed global portfolio strategies for occupier clients for over 15 years, there has never been a greater CRE focus on Agility and Space-as-a-Service,” said Kapur.

She arrives in her new role at a time of huge opportunity for the industry. 

The flexible workspace market has grown considerably in recent years, reflecting a changing workforce, improvements in technology, and a demand by companies to only pay for what they use, rather than be trapped in potentially expensive and lengthy leases for space they often simply don’t need.

Although popular with start-ups and sole traders due to the potential savings involved and their need to upscale and downscale quickly, larger firms are now also increasingly looking for more agile workspaces.

Indeed, this space-as-a-service model was responsible for some of the major flexible workspace deals last year in both London and New York, involving household names such as Facebook, Adidas, Microsoft and IBM.

The pattern is clear. While flexible workspace has always been one of the central pillars of an increasingly disruptive business and property market, established players now too are increasingly buying into the flexible workspace revolution.

It’s this growth that has IWG reacting swiftly to the changing market by making this latest, specialist appointment.

Kapur – who will be based in San Francisco – will be leading strategy for the Enterprise team which designs, builds, and operates customized spaces in keeping with each client’s standards and corporate culture.

Providing top-class service to major clients is a demanding role, and Kapur can draw on a wealth of professional experience earned in some of industry’s most well-respected companies.  

Before her appointment by IWG, her previous role was Sales Director for US commercial real estate services and investment firm CBRE’s Occupier Practice, where she held responsibility for growing existing business relationships, winning new business and developing overall business strategy. Prior to this she worked as Director of Global Workplace Solutions.

Before joining CBRE, she was part of E&Y’s Real Estate Advisory Group in New York, where her work focused on portfolio strategy and capital markets transactions.

With IWG incorporating a plethora of brands, each of which have their own unique offerings and place in the market, Kapur says she’s relishing the potential of her new role.

She added: “I'm excited to be leading strategy for IWG’s enterprise clients and creating customized solutions to future-proof their portfolios with IWG’s global network of brands including Regus, Spaces and No18.”

Kapur will be part of a wider team which is tasked with delivering bespoke solutions to some of the business world’s major names. In her new role Kapur will report to Sean Deaton, VP of Enterprise, who’s in no doubt about the calibre of new recruit IWG has brought on board, and says it’s a testament to the level of commitment the company is showing to its enterprise clients.   

He added: “I think the addition of Puja to the IWG team further exemplifies our commitment to enabling strategic relationships with our enterprise clients as they look to augment their existing real estate strategy with incremental flexibility.”

Find out more about IWG’s co-working revolution.