Meet Pierre Ferrandon from Omada

People Behind the Space: Omada

Welcome to Omada Christchurch, where work and leisure blend seamlessly in a beautifully designed coworking space just steps from Hagley Park. Located on Level 2 at 47 Salisbury street, adjacent to the Sudima Hotel, Omada is more than just a place to work—it's a community committed to sustainable business practices, collaboration, and productivity.

We had the pleasure of speaking with Pierre from Omada to learn more about how they’re creating an environment that supports entrepreneurs and professionals in achieving their goals while building a better future.

Pierre Ferrandon From Omada

1. Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do at Omada.

I am the CEO and co-founder of Omada with Sudesh Jhunjhnuwala, who amongst other things is also the CEO and founder of the Sudima hotels, the award winning hospitality brand. I am responsible for the day to day running and expansion of the business.

As you can tell by my name I am originally French, but I have had the chance of living in 12 countries with New Zealand being the one I have spent most time in. I have had the opportunity to live on a sailing boat for two years and did a round trip from France to the Caribbean and back, and also lived in Greece, Spain, Italy and Australia to name a few places.

I initially studied astrophysics until moving to business administration and marketing, following the realisation that I was unfortunately not smart enough to go to space… In my spare time I love surfing, sailing and playing music with my band.

Collab Space at Omada

1. What inspired the creation of Omada, and what vision do you have for its future?

Before founding Omada I had been working for about 10 years with a large multinational providing serviced offices and Co-working in France, Australia & New Zealand and more recently worked as a senior executive for two New Zealand fit out companies. What brought about the desire to create Omada was the realisation that businesses were struggling with inflexible leases, underutilized spaces, the exhorbitant cost of fitout and the need to keep environments engaging for employees—all becoming ever more challenging with the rise of hybrid work patterns. When Sudesh and I met, we realised there was an incredible opportunity to join his expertise in hospitality with my experience in coworking and bring to the market a truly unique product, that would go beyond what existing flexible workspaces in New Zealand can offer.

I wanted to create a solution that not only addressed the traditional office pain points, but also provided a space where people could connect, learn, and grow together. I have always found astonishing the fact that most businesses carry a lot of surplus real estate, and that creates so much waste! From my years living on a boat, I have developed an aversion to waste which is what happens when you realise resources are limited and water is not an unlimited supply! Be it food or business resources, when there is waste it impacts our ability as humans to make the best of our lives, and so I wanted to provide a real estate solution that would enable a much higher utilisation of the office as an asset, in a similar way than Uber does to the transport industry. If we can increase utilisation, then the same building could cater for more staff which means we will need less buildings to be built over time which will be a good thing for the environment and allows businesses to do more with their resources.

Boardroom at Omada

What do you like most about Omada and how does it differ from other coworking spaces?

What I like most about Omada is our Why. The name Omada comes from the Greek language: “Omada, Noun. oμáða • team, a group of people coming together with a purpose”. Beyond Sudesh and I we have brought together on our journey multiple experts across art, human resources, design and technology with the aim of solving not only the commercial real estate utilisation challenge, but also the labour productivity challenge that New Zealand is facing. NZ labour productivity is about 30% below the OECD average and we have major problems across skills, training and development, capital per capita, innovation and investment in R&D. This is why we are providing workspace solutions that require no upfront capital, flexibility in terms, size and price. We are also introducing an opportunity for a peer to peer marketplace in partnership with www.hive.ai to bring to our members the best in upskilling and mentorship solutions.

Beyond creating enjoyable spaces to work, we want to be a driving force in helping New Zealand businesses increase their productivity and ultimately people’s well being. If we can do more in less time, then we have more time to enjoy the wonders that New Zealand has to offer. I am personally interested in that as I love sailing and surfing!

Kitchen at Omada

Can you describe the community and types of businesses within your spaces?

We have a wide range of businesses and industries, from Healthcare to marketing consultancy, law and insurance. People come to us first because they love the way our spaces look and feel, they stay because they enjoy the community and the service. Our offering will vary in terms of the quality of the building from one location to the next but I have noticed we generally tend to have businesses who have a strong commitment to doing good things  and that is great because it aligns very well with us.

Describe what you like most about working in a coworking space.

I like the energy and the innovation that happens within the space. Large corporations talk a lot about the benefits of the watercooler and coffee machine conversations. The same happens within a coworking space but with people from different businesses, different backgrounds and industries and the result is a myriad of new ideas and new perspectives that are being shared. Our world is evolving faster than ever before and I believe sharing and collaboration is critical to solving the challenges of modern times. Cross company sharing of ideas, resources and skills can do a lot to increase productivity  in New Zealand considering 90% of businesses are less than 20 staff and therefore struggle to achieve the productivity that scale tends to bring.

Collab Space at Omada

If you could pick any three people in the world to work in the space, who would it be and why?

1. Leonardo Da Vinci, because he is one of the greatest inventor of all times and as Richard Florida said: "Human creativity is the most valuable economic resource”

2. Cyrano de Bergerac, because he is my idol. A true poet, and the embodiment of doing the right thing at all costs.

3. Kelly Slater, because he is cool and definitely the best surfer of all time.

Omada Coworking Space 

If you had one piece of advice for anyone setting up a coworking space what would it be?

Make sure you are clear on why you are doing it. As the market evolves and grows, uniqueness of identity will become more and more important and to do that you need to have a strong purpose. Also make sure you have the right partners to support your services and especially IT. We have the chance of having incredible depth of IT support given our relationship with the Sudima hotel and HIND management, and being able to solve our client’s IT issues quickly has been a critical part to our success.

Are there any exciting plans in the pipeline for Omada?

Well as a matter of fact I have just committed to working in the business full time as of August which after two years of full time employment as well as running the business will be a great opportunity to fully focused on growth. In the last two weeks alone I have come across multiple opportunities to partner with existing building owners who are looking for ways to realign their asset with the changing demand of businesses, and it so happens that it is exactly what we can do. I am heading to France in a few weeks to get married, and after that it will be full throttle ahead to refine our offering and expand to new locations. I am very excited for the journey ahead.