Durham Chamber of Commerce
The Smoffice's official ribbon cutting ceremony
Being small hasn't kept The Smoffice from getting recognized in a big way. The 30-square-foot space in the storefront window of Beyu Caffe has been named as one of five finalists for Best Unconventional Chamber Project in the World.
The nomination comes as part of the World Chambers Competition that takes place at the eighth World Chambers Congress, a biennial event from the International Chamber of Congress World Chambers Federation, April 22-25 in Doha, Qatar. The competition includes five different categories, each of which seeks to recognize innovative projects that chambers across the world have undertaken.
The Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Durham Inc. launched The Smoffice — "the world's smallest office" — as part of an initiative to pull in entrepreneurs from across the country. The office space was filled through a competition that offered a free six months in the Beyu Caffe window and a six-week stay in a downtown condo to the winner. The Makery, a flash-sale site startup, beat out other applicants and occupied the space from May 1 to October 31, 2012.
Durham's Smoffice will be competing against four other chambers: the Chamber of Commerce of Slovenia, the Korea Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Commerce of Finland and the Nuremberg Chamber of Commerce.
