3 min readThe KinKonnects team
Renting an office in Kinshasa: bare lease or serviced?
A bare lease looks half the price of a serviced office. It is, right up until you add what you have to buy before anyone can sit down.
This comparison almost always gets made badly, because two numbers are put side by side that do not cover the same things. On one side a bare rent. On the other an all inclusive one. Until you have costed what bare leaves you to pay, the comparison means nothing.
What a bare lease does not include
- Furniture: desks, chairs, storage, a meeting room.
- Network and electrical cabling, and often air conditioning.
- The business internet contract, plus its installation.
- A UPS and a generator, or your share of the building's.
- Security, cleaning and day to day maintenance.
- Rent in advance, counted in months in Kinshasa.
None of these is optional. They are simply paid later, and by you.
The two numbers that decide it
The first is day one cash. A bare lease wants the advance, the deposit, the fit out and the equipment before anyone does a day's work. A serviced office wants one month, sometimes two. For a company starting up or opening its first DRC office, that gap usually matters more than the monthly rent.
The second is cost per person per month, everything included, spread over how long you will genuinely stay. That is where the bare lease catches up, but only with enough time and enough people.
Where it flips
In practice in Kinshasa, a bare lease becomes competitive at around fifteen desks and a commitment of at least three years. Below that the fixed costs spread across too few people: a generator costs the same for six people as for twenty.
Above it, the decision changes character. It stops being about price and becomes about control: your hours, your security, your layout, the impression your reception makes.
The flexibility question
A three year lease is a bet on your headcount in three years. If the Congolese market makes you double or shrink, you are paying for square metres that no longer match. A monthly or annual serviced contract gets renegotiated to the real size.
How to do the maths honestly
- 1.Cost the full fit out of the bare lease from actual quotes, not estimates.
- 2.Divide it by the number of months you will realistically stay.
- 3.Add the true monthly running costs, backup power included.
- 4.Divide the total by your headcount.
- 5.Compare that figure to the serviced price per desk, not to the bare rent.
Try before committing
The cheapest way to settle this is to work a week in the space you are considering. At KinKonnects an open seating pass does exactly that, and it converts into a dedicated desk or a private office later without changing address or connection. The space is in Ngaliema at the OUA and Massamba crossing, open 7am to 10pm.
FAQ
How many months in advance does a commercial lease need in Kinshasa?
Several months is the norm and practice varies widely by landlord and district. Get the advance, the deposit and the fit out quoted together before comparing with an all inclusive offer.
Does a serviced office cost more over three years?
Often yes per square metre, often no per person once fit out and backup power are counted. The answer depends mostly on your headcount and how long you actually stay.
Can you move from a serviced office to a bare lease later?
Yes, and that is the usual path for a growing company. The point of the serviced office is to avoid tying up cash during the phase when headcount is not yet stable.
