Member Stories: Home Is Where My Hub Is
15 May 2015 - Impact Hub Member

Home Is Where My Hub Is: Tapping into a global network

Sophia Cheng

When taking the freelance plunge I knew I would need an alternative network to be a part of, not to mention office space.

 

I was drawn to the Impact Hub KX and was welcomed into the community when I joined. There is so much on offer, although i have not always been as active as I would like, I am proud to be a Hubber!

 

The international element to the Impact Hub is really appealing. There are 63 Hubs all around the world. I even bumped into the founder of the Sicily Hub last year in Lima! And as a Hubber I can visit any other hub for a day every month. A great albeit geographically challenging perk!

 

When my project was taking me to Asia, I researched regional Impact Hubs and contacted Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

 

With only 24 hours in Singapore but a lot of work to catch up on, the Hub Singapore was the perfect place to spend the day. Anne-Laure Herrezuelo, Community & Space Manager, warmly welcomed me. It is a well-established Hub with lots of different working spaces. Even chill out beds! And not to mention a great cup of coffee. Anne-Laure took time out of her day to ask about my project, then connected me to Hubbers in complementary fields as well exchanging Hub info, sharing the similarities and the differences.

 

Next stop was Kuala Lumpur where I was to be based for 3 weeks. Ralph Mpofu, Community Host, introduced me to their much newer hub. Smaller in size, it already had a exhibition showcasing Hub projects with bags made from seatbelts on sale! They host a monthly ‘mix n fix’ night and as luck would have it, this month’s theme was the environment*. A fantastic event and a great networking opportunity.

 

To have a base on the other side of the world, to have a friendly coffee meeting scheduled before you’ve set foot in the country and the warm welcome at each Hub is testament to this unique global network. Through these short exchanges I made great contacts for my current project, If Not Us Then Who?, not to mention a drinking buddy or two!
Now I am back in London, I plan to be more engaged with my Hub.

 

Home is where my hub is!

 

With 5 years of communications experience, Sophia founded With Many Roots last year, to support great projects and organisations with their communications. She has called Impact Hub KX home since August 2014.  Sophia is currently involved with an environmental film project, If Not Us Then Who? aimed at raising the profile of the role indigenous peoples play in protecting forests and mitigating climate change.