Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work at a chocolate factory? Perhaps you’ve dreamt of the smells of cacao wafting over your desk all day. Or maybe you envision how mesmerising it would be to watch molten chocolate as it’s poured delicately into its moulds. Well, dream no more folks. Young start-up, Mote, are giving people the opportunity to do just that. And the best bit? You don’t even have to be a chocolatier to try it out.
You see, Mote is made for flexible workers. It’s for those that work from home, those who travel, or those who don’t have a permanent office. It’s a way to connect these people and their teams with flexible places to work. But these places aren’t your regular white plaster-walled offices.
Creating a new experience
When Mote started out, co-founder Ben was looking for spaces that not only offered WiFi and good coffee, but also a brilliant ambience. From experience as a ‘Moter’, he knew this was often difficult to find.
Prior to launching Mote, Ben and his girlfriend had just spent the better part of a year travelling the South Island of New Zealand. As you might imagine, the rural backblocks of Southland didn’t offer up many obvious options to work remotely.
So, Ben and his co-founder Jefferson set out to solve this problem themselves. And what better place to start than Wellington Chocolate Factory. If they were going to draw people out of their home offices for a change of scene, they thought it may as well involve chocolate.
Validating the market
The founders have spent the last year validating the market and they know they’re onto something. They admit that, at first, there are some hesitations for businesses to offer up their workspaces. However, once they see the value in generating revenue in off-peak hours, it becomes a very attractive idea.
For Moters, there is also a clear culture shift happening, and people are starting to work in less traditional ways. Spurred on particularly by the Covid-19 lockdowns, businesses and individuals are reassessing the need to go into an office. In fact, a survey from 2020 showed that 89% of people would happily keep working from home once the lockdowns were over, at least part-time.
It’s not only the Moters and the venues that see the value. Accelerators and start up incubators across the country are also getting behind Mote. Recently, Mote was awarded first place in the Soda Seed Grant competition after going up against nine other Kiwi start-ups in the bid for the top prize. For them, winning was both a great confidence boost and added validation that they’re on the right track. Not to mention, it’s provided a bit of a financial boost to keep driving the business forward.
It seems Mote are going places, and so are their customers. To the chocolate factories, that is! If you’d like to follow along with Mote’s journey, you can check out their website www.mote.nz to sign up for their latest updates.