You must not be defeated. That’s a wrap for 2025!
2025 has been a stellar year for Venture Workspace, but that by no means indicates it was easy. We’ve weathered a generous share of challenges; however, each one has opened the door to growth and building resilience. As the late Maya Angelou once said: “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated.”
This soulful quote rings particularly true in our pursuit of success. The journey we’re on demands strong leadership rooted in courage, which Angelou herself touted as the most important of all virtues, and one she fully exemplified. As we look ahead, this is a trait we hope to embody as we grow the VW brand, along with our continued commitment to serving our members as they grow their own businesses under our care.
If you’ve been with us since the early days, thank you for walking with us thus far. Rest assured, there’s always a seat at the table for you, be it at one of our coworking spaces in Cape Town or our Johannesburg branch in Fourways.
As per tradition, here’s our final 2025 wrap-up and a view of what’s to come next year.
Rolling out Venture Workspace Riverlands
Earlier this year, we celebrated the rollout of our latest and largest offering: Venture Workspace Riverlands. This 2,000m², multi-level ‘arena’ sprang to life as a response to the growing demand for P-grade (prime-grade) coworking spaces in Cape Town. We love our original coworking spaces, but the time had come to offer something totally unique and a little more sophisticated.
This branch is strategically located to offer a welcome reprieve from daily traffic for those living in the CBD or within the Riverlands precinct itself. It features:
- 322 desks
- 66 serviced offices
- 4 meeting rooms
- 2 canteen areas
- 1 podcast recording studio
Heading into 2026, we firmly believe the physical office still plays a crucial role in the future world of work. We’re immensely proud of ourselves for bringing this audacious idea to life, and we look forward to welcoming new businesses and professionals into this space.
Venture Workspace Riverlands still has availability for 2026. Grab your laptop and come snap up your new Cape Town workspace before someone else does: +27 (0)861 370 260 or info@ventureworkspace.chalkmedia.co.za
We’re the best coworking space in Cape Town!
This year, we celebrated our 9th year in operation and were voted Best Coworking Space in Cape Town by Cape Tourism! The award reminds us that standards and consistency matter. We make a significant effort to ensure that each individual who walks through our doors feels cared for, supported, and inspired to do their best work. This award acknowledges that, and we couldn’t be prouder.
We’d like to extend another massive thank you to our shareholders, suppliers, and the incredible teams across all our spaces who have played a hand in making Venture Workspace what it is. To our members: a profound and genuine thank you for your continued support and for voting for us.
Looking ahead…
A new year typically starts with a bang, but from what we’ve learnt, your next move (in life and in business) doesn’t have to be loud to make an impact. 2025 was a pretty big one for us, so as far as we know, we don’t have anything acutely significant planned over the next 12 months. But that’s not to say we’ve lost our steam…
Ultimately, we are all in agreement that for 2026 (which marks our 10th year in business!), we genuinely want to use this gift of time to nurture our current environments and continue caring for our members. Right now, everything is going in the right direction, and that, for us, feels like the best way to close off a year.
2026 tips from our team
As we look toward better working (and living!) and increased productivity, here are a few tips and recommended tools to take with you into 2026:
Subscribe to Deep Culture
“To help me take a break from my day with constant work emails, I’ve subscribed to Deep Culture. Their weekly email consists of 15 interesting things, mostly articles and short stories/ideas that take you out of your daily grind and help to look at things more objectively.” – Louis Fourie, Venture Workspace Founder
Focus on the next step
“Keep your attention on the next step forward, not the entire finish line. When you look at a big project or challenge, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Instead, I’ve shifted to asking: ‘What is the very next small step I can take right now?’ Not tomorrow. Not later. Right now. This keeps me moving, reduces anxiety, and builds confidence through action, one micro-step at a time.” – Lize Craddock, Operations
Fireflies, The Bear, & The Daily Stoic
“Get yourself a Fireflies account. It records meetings and sends you a summary afterwards. I also discovered The Bear, an intense, beautifully acted series about running a small business, managing chaos, and dealing with personal growth under pressure. A profound newsletter I enjoy is The Daily Stoic. It comprises daily meditations on resilience, calm, and perspective.” – Tershia Warner, Constantia
Write it down!
“One of the most effective work hacks I use is writing things down. It keeps me organised, reduces mental clutter, and ensures nothing slips through the cracks. I write down my top priorities every morning. It helps me tackle the most important tasks first.” – Amanda Greyling, Somerset West
Subscribe to the 1440 Daily Digest
“A newsletter I enjoy is the 1440 Daily Digest. It gives snippets of the latest worldwide news and headlines to keep me up to date. It includes interesting facts about things in history that happened on that day.” – Carey Oelofse, Constantia
Use templates & tune into Wide Awake
“As a receptionist, a significant portion of my work is repetitive, so developing templates for email responses has been an effective and efficient tool. I also enjoy watching the Wide Awake podcast and highly recommend it to professionals in 2026.” – Chloe Palmer, Claremont
Test out AI
“AI helps me structure emails and other communications more effectively. It takes my own words and puts them together clearly, and proves a real lifesaver when I don’t have time to carefully craft messages. With a busy life, evenings are perfect for unwinding with a good series. Favourites include White Collar and Lie to Me, with Burn Notice currently on the watchlist.” – Kashifah Achmat Claremont
What Now? & The Everygirl
“I recommend the What Now? with Trevor Noah podcast. It blends in-depth and freewheeling conversations with guests from around the world. The Everygirl is another favourite. This is an inspiring, relatable lifestyle newsletter offering career tips, financial advice, fashion trends, and more.” – Intle Mjekula Riverlands
Atomic Habits. Done is better than perfect!
“For 2026, I’d recommend Atomic Habits by James Clear, especially for those juggling multiple responsibilities. A productivity mindset that helps me is ‘done is better than perfect’. When procrastinating, I tell myself I’m just writing the ugly first draft. I set a timer for 10–15 minutes, get the messy version out, and then refine it.” – Devin Cunningham, Riverlands
We’d love to have you join us at one of our coworking spaces in Cape Town or Johannesburg in 2026. Contact us directly at info@ventureworkspace or fill out our contact form here.
