COLUMBIA, S.C. — New office space in Five Points will bring between 100 and 150 new tech jobs to Columbia.
The office is considered a tech incubator.
The goal of the space is to connect start-up companies with one another and work collaboratively even though they don't work for the same companies.
It's called Soco.
It already has existing spaces similar to the one coming to Five Points. The focus at these offices is collaboration, but there's no limit on what field people work in.
“I’m a web developer,” a person in the office said.
“Today is my third day on the job, but I started working for Fiber homes,” another person in the office said.
“I’m a freelance writer,” one man said.
“Started my own business back in 2011 and because I do digital marketing I could work anywhere where I have a laptop," Fionna Martin said.
Fionna Martin is the founder of FGM Internet Marketing. She doesn't know the people sitting at surrounding tables and cubicles, but they all work in the same space for the same reason.
Martin said she joined Soco to take her business outside her home.
“So I was doing a lot of working from home, but it just got to the point where I just wanted somewhere else to work," she said.
The manager of Soco, Greg Hilton said spaces like their offices and the new one coming to Five Points help keep growth going in the tech industry in Columbia. He said he had friends saying there were no opportunities for them in Columbia.
“They needed to go somewhere else. To a bigger city to sort of realize their full potential. We just sort of fundamentally disagree with that premise. We think there’s plenty of opportunity here in Columbia,” Hilton said.
Fionna said a space like this could make a big difference for a new company like it did for her own.
“I started my business as one person and so I never had staff I didn’t have employees that I could do the work. What I found being in Soco is not necessarily hiring people but finding other professional to do work with," Martin said.
The Boyd Foundation is tech incubator that works to help increase the tech industry in Columbia. The foundation gave Five Points more than $1M for the new office space.
The new office will be located on Saluda Avenue.
Details about what companies will be inside the office are still in discussion.