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LEADIN: Tunis' budding entrepreneurs are getting together to help kickstart their country's economy through collaboration. Cogite is the first and only co-working space in Tunisia. STORYLINE: This is no regular office. It's the first and only example of a shared workspace in Tunisia. The company is called Cogite. Hard at work are freelancers, students and entrepreneurs. Founded in 2013, it offers people all the perks of an office - high speed internet, free water and tea, and unlimited coffee - without the stuffiness of a traditional workspace. Coworkers are encouraged to think creatively and bounce ideas off one another. Even the name Cogite, or Ponder in English, gives a nod to the informal atmosphere. The emphasis is on breaking from the norm. A chalk board, where workers can write messages spans a whole wall in the space. Computer engineer Mohammed Khalloufi has only been coming to Cogite for a couple of weeks but is already hooked. "There are many advantages, the fact that you meet new people every day who can be interesting, whether they are professionals, associations, or others. I think it's rewarding for my career, on the personal side and the professional one," he says. Starting in San Francisco in 2005, the concept of co-working is now a worldwide phenomenon with an estimated 3,000 different locations. It's believed there are more than 30 of them in the Arab world, including Cairo, Beirut and Dubai. Many of the spaces encourage career development and Cogite is keen to jump on the bandwagon. They organise and host workshops at least three times a month to help their members - from social media seminars, to online communication, marketing, capacity building and entrepreneurship. "This is the place where I feel the most curiosity in Tunis to be very honest," says Ali Mnif. He's the director of Mazam, an event creation and project management company. He likes the enthusiasm of the professionals who use the space. "There are people that come, who quickly read the title of the training or the event, they don't know much more about that topic, but they are just here to understand, to learn. They ask a lot of questions and this is what I like the most in this interaction that's happening inside these premises," Mnif says. As well as positioning themselves as creative hubs, sharing a work space cuts costs. Many of the people using Cogite are freelancers or involved with start-ups and don't always have a constant income. Cogite's factored this in by offering day membership at 20 Tunisian Dinars (12 US dollars) right through to a monthly subscription at 250 Dinars (150 US dollars) which allows members to access the space 24/7. The founders recognise that Cogite is a social business, presenting itself as a way of supporting the entrepreneurial community in Tunisia. Houssem Aoudi is one of the three co-founders. His view is resoundingly positive, about Cogite and the future of entrepreneurialism in the country. "Our only aim is to help people stop being afraid of doing things and just do. Just do this jump, working together, building in your country. I think of our country as a big start-up. And I think a big start-up needs some entrepreneurs within it to succeed," he says enthusiastically. Aoudi and his team are working on scaling up the Cogite brand and taking it nationwide. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/83d759d9e223ed24f27cf76788c63615 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork