WHAT IS A COMMUNITY AND HOW TO BUILD IT: A CASE OF UNIT.CITY
A community is a group of people who share common goals, values, and interests. A community of creative entrepreneurs interested in personal and business development has been formed in the UNIT.City innovation park developed by the UFuture holding, Valentyna Rakitina, UNIT.City’s director of ecosystem development, told Vector.
One resident story
Entrepreneur Oleg first came to UNIT.City on the open day. After that, he decided to work in the park’s coworking. Oleg became a resident of UNIT.City, got access to educational and entertainment activities of the park, business school, accelerators, networking and useful meetings with investors.
At one of the resident parties, Oleg met people who work at FinTech. After merging their companies and attracting students from ucode IT Academy, which also operates in the park, they began to develop new business.
Over time, the company left the community. But less than six months later, Oleg and his team returned. “We missed the atmosphere of UNIT.City,” he explained.
Community benefits
People join a community when they see it as an opportunity for development. The business of UNIT.City residents grow faster within the ecosystem due to opportunities for self-realization, finding partners, attracting talent to the team, access to investors.
Valentyna Rakitina added three more reasons why entrepreneurs and top specialists work at UNIT.City:
- atmosphere of trust and safety;
- here everyone is listened to, heard and understood, always ready to help;
- in the community, they respond to people’s requests, understand their needs and help achieve goals.
“Businesses need a community to build a strong brand. Thanks to it, you can get insights and ideas for new products and projects. In addition, brand ambassadors bring a new audience. And honest feedback from the community helps improve the business”.
Three tips for those starting to build community:
1. Build a team that will develop the community. Divide roles: who organizes events, who communicates, who is responsible for logistics.
2. Conduct in-depth interviews with community members to understand their motivations, requests, and needs. Schedule regular one-on-one meetings with them.
3. Start with proactive community leaders. Immediately involve the most active members of the community in the team: they will help develop it and become a supporter.
“UNIT.City's mission is to help companies scale and their founders realize their personal ambitions,” added Valentyna.
By becoming part of a community, people are in a circle of like-minded people. In frank conversations on important topics, they find solutions to common challenges and new business partners.
Read the full version of the material about what a community is and how it develops in UNIT.City at the link.