Leading Keighley entrepreneur creates Co-Working Keighley, where people and ideas come together

Sept. 30, 2010 - PRLog -- Sean Gilligan started his own company Webanywhere Limited at the age of 25 in his parents’ back bedroom and now employs 70 staff in Keighley. Gilligan’s goal for Co-Working Keighley is to provide free support and mentoring from a circle of subject experts that will help other people to become successful in business and create jobs for the local community.

Part of Webanywhere’s company office in the centre of Keighley (Aire Valley Business Centre, 5 minutes from the bus and train stations) has been partitioned off to create desk space for the first batch of co-workers, who are free to use the office area for full time or occasional use.

Co-working Keighley is part of the Bradford Network Big Society Project. It largely functions like a co-operative; through it, people can enlist help or volunteer to work on others’ projects.

All new members of Co-Working Keighley will be given their own free website to get their business underway. At the office site, free parking is available plus gym facilities. In addition members can expect free mentoring in a wide range of subject areas, free WiFi, hot desking, tea and coffee. Now add a games room with Playstation, Wii, Pool and Table Football, and other like-minded creative people keen to meet, support and encourage. That’s Co-Working Keighley.

“There’s a lot of really talented individuals around Keighley who have the energy and ideas to build a lot of amazing stuff,” Gilligan said. “It’s just a matter of getting them into the right environment. Keighley already has a highly skilled workforce and business community, a prominent position on the fringe of the Leeds/Bradford conurbation with excellent transport links, and also many of the problems that plague many of our urban areas. This initiative has the potential to connect the members of our co-working community directly with like-minded experts in the Keighley area and also to raise the idea that co-working is a very powerful tool for urban renewal and economic growth.

“The people we want to encourage to apply to Co-Working Keighley will share something very important in common with us; we want to change Keighley for the better, and for the long term. We think we can show people that co-working is a better way to work on developing strong ideas with real business potential, in an energetic, exciting and supportive environment with all the pros of both the home and the office and few of the cons. We invite local people looking to develop their ideas to get in touch and be a part of it.”

Full details, including how to apply to join Co-Working Keighley, are available from the website at www.coworkingkeighley.com.

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Webanywhere provides cutting edge web technology based solutions to the education and business sectors, with a client base of more than 2,500 organisations. Webanywhere's aim is to be a leading IT provider to the rapidly-globalising e-Learning industry.