Tag: Grab

Singapore – To drive inclusive growth in SEA, superapp Grab has announced the official opening of its new headquarters in Singapore. The newly-launched headquarters comes with the superapp’s new initiative called ‘GrabMerchant Centre’, which aims to help small businesses grow online.

The new headquarters in Singapore spans nine floors and more than 42,000 sqm, bringing about 3,000 Grabbers and an R&D Centre under one roof. Apart from the first GrabMerchant Centre, it will also be home to the digibank team. This new headquarters is one of two headquarters Grab has in the region. The dual headquarter is based in Jakarta, Indonesia, and serves as Grab’s regional innovation hub for small businesses.

Meanwhile, the ‘GrabMerchant Centre’ seeks to provide 1-on-1 business consultation services for Grab’s SME merchant-partners. It is a one-stop hub dedicated to helping small businesses optimise their online presence, maximise GrabFood, GrabMart, GrabFin, and GrabAds services for their businesses, and learn to use digital tools to grow.

Anthony Tan, Grab’s group CEO and co-founder, shared that as they celebrate Grab’s 10th anniversary this year, they hope that their announcements will help small businesses and their future workforce upskill and maximise their opportunities, even in this challenging macro environment. 

“Providing access to digital tools can be a powerful way to ensure all Southeast Asians can equally participate in – and benefit from – the rising digital economy, the same way 10 years ago when our driver-partners learned how to use their smartphones to earn incomes,” said Tan.

Aside from the new headquarters and the new SME initiative, Grab has also committed an annual US$1m from the GrabForGood Fund towards the ‘GrabScholar’ programme, which will provide university scholarships and educational bursaries across all countries Grab operates in SEA.

‘GrabScholar’ programme plans to award over 2,000 scholarships and bursaries annually. It will cover tuition and study-related expenses for underprivileged children to attend primary, secondary, or vocational schools, as well as universities. Internship opportunities will also be offered to tertiary students to develop their professional aptitude and prepare them for full-time roles when they graduate. It was launched in Indonesia last July in partnership with Yayasan Benih Baik Indonesia. This is in addition to existing scholarship and bursary initiatives that are offered to the children of Grab’s driver-, delivery- and merchant-partners in Singapore and Thailand.

Singapore – Superapp Grab in Singapore was under fire in recent weeks following its decision to shorten the grace waiting period. In the new decision, users will be automatically charged a waiting fee of S$3 per five-minute waiting block if they keep the driver waiting for longer than three minutes. Meanwhile, a S$4 fee applies if a passenger cancels a booking more than three minutes after accepting one.

This decision has angered some consumers, leading to Singapore’s Transport Minister S. Iswaran questioned in Parliament on the Government’s supervision over ride-hailing platforms.

This was evident with the latest data from the latest YouGov BrandIndex that shows that Grab’s Buzz, Consideration and Customer Satisfaction scores among Singapore residents who say they are very to somewhat likely to use transport providers all significantly declined shortly after its new grace waiting period came into force.

In terms of media metrics, net Buzz scores, which measure whether consumers have heard more positive or negative things about a brand in the past two weeks, fell from 17.9 on 18 July to -2.6 by 1 August, indicating that more consumers heard negative than positive things about the brand.

Meanwhile, Grab’s Consideration scores, which track the percentage of Singapore residents who would consider using the platform in the next month, lost nearly 20 points from 47.1 on 18 July to 27.3 by 1 August, while the brand’s net Customer Satisfaction scores, which measure whether Grab’s current customers are generally satisfied or unsatisfied with the brand, dropped 14 points from 27.4 on 18 July to 13.0 by 1 August.

Lastly, data from YouGov BrandIndex shows that Grab’s Buzz, Consideration, Customer Satisfaction scores all started on an upward trajectory in the days after the parliamentary statement. Notably, net Buzz scores returned to positive territory of 1.4 by 4 August. However, the platform’s net Corporate Reputation scores, which improved from 2-3 August, declined again from 3-4 August.

Manila, Philippines – Grab in the Philippines has announced recently the acquisition of MOVE IT, a local motorcycle taxi firm. Through the acquisition, Grab aims to create at least 6,000 meaningful income opportunities for more driver-partners within 3 months.

Grab Philippines will help MOVE IT further scale its existing motorcycle taxi fleet and improve the efficiency of its platform to help serve more commuters, as well as working with MOVE IT to further enhance its safety and service quality standards – to be at par with Grab’s motorcycle taxi services across Southeast Asia.

MOVE IT will be independently operated using the existing technology and app, and it will continue to comply with the standards set by the DOTr’s Motorcycle Taxi Pilot Program. Francis Juan will continue to lead MOVE IT in his capacity as chairman – leveraging his deep knowledge of the motorcycle taxi industry to better address market gaps and leverage untapped market opportunities.

Juan said, “We appreciate the support and trust that Grab has given us – it’s a testament to MOVE IT’s excellence in recent years. And in this new phase: we will serve more riders who have great difficulty commuting, we will provide more Filipinos with a livelihood, and we will provide our countrymen with a proudly Pinoy motorcycle taxi service that they can be proud of to our Southeast Asian neighbours.”

Meanwhile, Grace Vera Cruz, country head at Grab Philippines, said, “As we turn a new chapter for our country, Grab Philippines will continue to play an active role in bringing forward the spirit of bayanihan and value-creation – and this milestone that we humbly share with MOVE IT clearly expresses that.” 

She added, “As one of the first tech platforms that firmly believed in the potential and value of the Philippine market ten years ago, we’re doubling down on our commitment to outserving the needs of the Filipino people, and we are optimistic that through MOVE IT, we will create more livelihood opportunities, spur greater economic activity, and help improve every Filipino’s daily commute.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Malaysia is currently experiencing a nation-wide ‘blackout’ of food delivery services, as local reports have suggested that a large number of food delivery riders will be protesting starting this day amidst requests to improve payment across food delivery rider partners.

According to a report from the Free Malaysia Today, the protest had been planned two to three weeks ago, as shared by the organiser Zulhelmi Mansor of the Persatuan Penghantar P-Hailing Malaysia. The posters posted on social media were posted with Grab and foodpanda logos.

In response to the protests, Grab Malaysia has released a statement via The Star, clarifying that there was no reduction in base fares for their delivery services. Instead, it was due to a glitch in its system, where the rider noted a discrepancy in his earnings.

“We have since rectified the issue and have transferred the shortfall to all affected partners, and clarified the matter via our official communication channel to our partners on July 21. We apologise for the inconvenience this may have caused for our partners and would like to encourage our partners to reach out to us,” they stated.

Grab Malaysia also added that in the past few months, they have introduced multiple efforts to support their delivery-partners, as well as releasing multiple promotions and campaigns to benefit their riders.

The recent updates in Malaysia’s food delivery space line up with the constant growth of food delivery companies in the country, with players including airasia ride and DeliverEat. Recently, airasia ride announced that its offering its gig riders full-time employment in a move to offer job stability and enhancement of income opportunities.

Strikes amongst food delivery riders have increased in the Southeast Asian region. For instance, foodpanda drivers in the Philippines have protested over poor pay conditions. As a result, the country’s National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) have recently ordered foodpanda to pay the seven dismissed riders around PHP2.2m who have participated in the protest.

Petaling Jaya, Malaysia – As the saying goes, not all superheroes wear capes, and this holds true for this year’s superhero search by Grab Malaysia. This annual initiative called ‘Grab Lejen’ looks to honour and reward exceptional driver and delivery partners who have gone above and beyond their call of duty to serve Malaysians. 

In conjunction with Grab’s 10-year anniversary, the initiative seeks to find an everyday superhero amongst its community of partners that will be entirely crowdsourced, which means that Grab users will be able to submit their heartwarming stories of choice as nominations.

Until 30 September 2022, Grab users will be able to submit their heartwarming stories of choice as nominations at https://grb.to/grablejen2022. They will then be able to vote for their favourite ‘lejens’ who won the hearts of Malaysians beginning 15 October until 15 November 2022.

Rashid Shukor, director of country operations and mobility at Grab Malaysia, shared that since its inauguration last year, they’ve seen incredible acts of kindness from their driver and delivery partners, and heartwarming and compassionate stories like these are a breath of fresh air and a true testament to the incredible selfless nature of their partners, who despite enduring hardships in their everyday lives, still find it in themselves to be unselfishly kind to those around them. 

“As a homegrown company striving for positive social impact, we are encouraged by our partners and want to continue to recognise and further enable these exemplary acts of service for many more years to come,” said Shukor.

Grab Lejen is part of Grab’s commitment to positive social impact. In addition to honouring exemplary partners who have shown extraordinary acts of service, Grab continuously finds ways to help all partners to save and grow through the platform with the GrabBenefits programme. GrabBenefits is a programme aimed at enriching the lives of Grab’s partners through three main categories; protection, savings, and academy. Together, these benefits such as petrol rebates, vehicle maintenance discounts, insurance coverage, and upskilling programmes allow them to save on everyday expenses, get the necessary protection and equip themselves with knowledge while they earn. 

Shukor added. “For the past 10 years, our community of partners has been the heart of everything Grab does and we are committed to continue supporting them as they persevere to earn on the Grab platform. GrabBenefits is one of our ways of supporting our dedicated partners and empowering them with resources to hopefully make their lives a little easier. And through Grab Lejen, we aim to honour the real-life superheroes that deserve recognition. We hope to continue building a healthy partner community that touches the lives of people around them, and by doing so, empower them to become an enabler of positive social impact. This is truly how legends are made.”

Surakarta, Indonesia – Superapp Grab in Indonesia and the Indonesian Market Management Association (Asparindo) have confirmed a strategic partnership, in an aim to digitise traditional markets through the Pasar programme, an extension of GrabMart that brings local markets’ freshest produce, poultry, meat, and seafood to households.

Aside from Surakarta, the digitalisation program will also continue to traditional markets in and other cities such as Jakarta, Surabaya, Bogor, Bali, Palembang and Medan, targeting around 4,600 traditional market MSME players by the end of 2022.

The collaboration includes a number of initiatives like the ‘Digital Market Activation’, where MSME partners under Asparindo have the opportunity to join the Grab digital ecosystem as Grab merchants and take advantage of digital payment methods using OVO. It also includes ‘Training for MSMEs’, where Grab will be providing digital training programmes, webinars, and education for MSME players in order to improve digital market literacy and help empower digital businesses to increase the value of market competitiveness. 

Additionally, another initiative is ‘Event participation’, where Grab and Asparindo will be presenting various kinds of events held both offline and online.

Gibran Rakabuming Raka, mayor of Surakarta, said, “This collaboration is certainly in line with the mission that is being carried out by the Surakarta City Government in realizing the smart city program. I hope this program can provide education to business people that digitalization in every market is currently very necessary in order to encourage regional economic growth and create skilled and highly competitive resources.”

Meanwhile, Neneng Goenadi, country managing director of Grab Indonesia, conveyed the platform’s commitment to supporting the digitisation of market traders and MSME players in Indonesia. 

“We believe in the potential and superior competitiveness of Indonesian MSMEs. Therefore, we are excited to present the GrabMart Pasar program to facilitate market traders and MSMEs in adopting technology and entering the digital economy ecosystem. We hope that Grab’s support can help Indonesian MSMEs contribute to sustainable regional and national economic growth,” said Goenadi. 

Joko Setiyanto, chairman of the Indonesian Market Management Association (Asparindo), shared that the current pandemic has also encouraged a change in trends for people to shop and do business digitally, and the traditional market is one of the places of business for SMEs that must be maintained and its existence regulated. 

“Therefore, digital adoption is needed for traditional markets in order to adapt and improve services to meet the needs of the community. Through this collaboration with Grab Indonesia, it is hoped that it will accelerate the pace of digitalisation of traditional markets so that they can continue to exist and develop into modern traditional markets that are solid and globally competitive,” said Setiyanto.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Super app Grab has launched a new feature called ‘Grab Intercity’ that allows users the ability to purchase affordable bus and ferry tickets on the Grab app. It also allows users to purchase direct bus routes to Singapore from Malaysia.

The addition of direct routes between Malaysia and Singapore represents the expansion of Grab Intercity to Grab users in Singapore. Users will be able to purchase bus tickets to over 30 destinations in Singapore from 11 different states and cities across Malaysia.

Routes between Malaysia and Singapore on Grab Intercity will be available for booking and purchase beginning 7th July 2022. In conjunction with the recent launch and expansion, users will also receive a 10% discount on all tickets booked through the service. 

To launch the service, Grab collaborated with Splyt and Easybook to adapt the service onto the platform, enabling users to book a ticket, pay with GrabPay and earn GrabRewards. 

Rashid Shukor, director of country operations and mobility at Grab Malaysia, said, “As a homegrown brand, we want to help Malaysians plan their travels conveniently and affordably with the use of technology. It’s only through collaboration with industry leaders across different sectors that we’re able to simplify routine errands such as planning for a holiday, making it even more seamless and rewarding at the same time.” 

He added, “Grab Intercity is no different. By growing our travel offerings, users can plan their holidays without the need for multiple apps or log-ins. We hope this enables a more convenient way for Malaysians to prepare for the upcoming Hari Raya Aidiladha too.”

Meanwhile, Minister of Transport Malaysia Datuk Seri Ir. Dr. Wee Ka Siong shared that by incorporating direct routes to and from Singapore, such efforts support the nation’s economic recovery by increasing channels for convenient travelling. 

“As travelling continues to be a key focus for many countries, facilitating the ease of cross border travels is even more vital than ever in helping the recovery efforts of our economy. Moreover, as borders continue to relax further all around the world, we foresee a further increase in travelling activity, both domestically and internationally,” Wee said.

He added, “This is why it is important for both private and public sectors to come together to play their part in contributing to economic growth in varied ways. With efforts such as this from Grab Malaysia, Malaysians and Singaporeans alike will not only have additional, convenient travelling options at their fingertips, but economies will be able to benefit too.”

Singapore – Super app Grab in Singapore has bought and relaunched the country’s well-loved food site HungryGoWhere and its accompanying social media channels. This revamped HungryGoWhere brand aims to address the growing interest of diners to reconnect with the local food scene in much deeper ways.

HungryGoWhere aims to spotlight up-and-coming personalities and the origins of popular foods that are not often told. The site will act as a one-stop platform that explores the highways and byways of the local food scene through food reviews and recommendations, profile interviews, and a behind-the-scenes look at the food.

To ensure its curation of content constantly addresses what consumers are looking for, HungryGoWhere will also leverage rich insights derived from Grab’s superapp data, such as popular food trends and frequently visited places in Singapore, amongst a spectrum of other interests and preferences.

Moreover, it will provide F&B businesses with another channel for expanding their reach and growing their business. To help featured brands gain as much visibility as possible, relevant stories on HungryGoWhere will also be shared with Grab’s wide base of highly engaged users via the Grab app and on Grab’s marketing channels.

Cifer Ong, Grab Singapore’s managing director of strategy and partnerships, shared that HungryGoWhere is a brand that many Singaporeans have grown to love since its inception more than a decade ago and many were sad to see it go, and they feel privileged and excited to be bringing back its longstanding legacy, while aiming to take it to the next level with this rebrand. 

“Eventually, we want to establish Grab and our associated brands as the go-to source for diners seeking the best food recommendations and F&B brands looking to grow their business. We believe that our deep relationships with merchants and key learnings from the food sector, coupled with our extensive superapp insights, will help us achieve this. We look forward to the continued support of the F&B community and diners, and trust that the new HungryGoWhere will continue to serve them well,” said Ong.

The revamped brand retains its name and iconic red hue, in a nod to its longstanding legacy as a trusted food discovery platform in the F&B scene. It also sports a trendy and approachable new look that reflects its commitment to engaging with consumers through new and exciting content. Amongst its offerings is a brand-new 20 Questions With interview series with the who’s who of the F&B sector. Co-founders of popular bagel chain Two Men Bagel House, Jereborne Lam and Jerome Lam, will kick off the series with a candid interview, in which they touched on everything from their favourite bagels to their guilty indulgences.

The new site will also feature From Scratch, a series exploring the origins of popular foods and the work that goes into making them. In the first instalment, Kim Guan Guan Coffee Trading, a Singapore coffee roaster with a rich history, takes readers through the various steps of brewing a fragrant cup of local coffee.

Aside from HungryGoWhere.com, diners can also connect with HungryGoWhere on its Facebook, Instagram and YouTube pages, as well as HungryGoWhere’s Telegram channel.

Petaling Jaya, Malaysia – As Grab Malaysia continues to scale up its environmental sustainability efforts, the superapp has partnered with Malaysia’s reverse vending machine ecosystem, KLEAN, and the one-stop-shop for innovation commercialisation, Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation (MRANTI), to look at solutions that will responsibly recover and recycle single-use plastic with reverse vending machines (RVMs). This move aims to help encourage recycling and make it easier for consumers to contribute to a greener Malaysia.

Through this partnership, Grab and KLEAN will be rolling out AI-driven RVMs, at specific locations, where users can easily send their recyclable food packaging waste. In addition, Grab will be leveraging its platform to increase visibility, and drive consumer participation and education efforts. Meanwhile, MRANTI’s role in providing integrated facilities for end-to-end research, development, commercialisation, and innovation (R&D&C&I) services will assist in the enhancement of the AI on the RVMs, and will help accelerate the commercialisation of the product.

Hassan Alsagoff, Grab Malaysia’s country marketing head, shared that they seek to protect the environment as it is crucial to building resilient small businesses and strong communities that can thrive for generations to come.

“We will continue to collaborate with government bodies, corporate partners, and policymakers through various programmes, to tackle the challenge of climate change. Together we want to create a sustainable future and provide easy ways for our consumers to make greener choices in everyday decisions”, said Alsagoff.

KLEAN Reverse Vending Machines, which was launched in 2019 by JANZ Technologies Sdn Bhd, collect aluminium cans and plastic bottles, and sort on-site, while registering users and rewarding them with virtual points. These collected items are then smelted back into aluminium in the case of cans and recycled into Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) pellets and fibre in the case of plastic bottles by recycling partners within the KLEAN ecosystem.

Over the next few months, the partnership aims to look at developing more AI-driven RVMs, onboard more reward partners to its redemption platform, data collection and deploy the machines to various locations across the country for easier access.

Alsagoff added, “We believe that this is a small step in the right direction. We are committed to making a real sustainable and scalable impact in partnership with drivers, industry innovators, and governments. It’s the right thing to do for our communities, our cities, and the planet we all share.”

Joey Azman, KLEAN’s co-founder and chief financial officer, shared that they applaud Grab Malaysia’s commitment to recover back and promote recycling of single-use plastic alongside its aim to partner locally, as with the rising popularity of food and grocery deliveries, it is essential that they find ways to enable greater recycling of plastic waste. 

“Partnerships and initiatives from corporations like Grab can help rally communities to adopt greener practices and contribute to positive change. We hope other companies will join us in our mission to improve the recycling habits of consumers through KLEAN’s own digital version of a ‘container deposit scheme,” said Azman.

Meanwhile, Dzuleira Abu Bakar, MRANTI’s CEO, noted that MRANTI is set to bridge the gap between public and private sector collaboration by connecting problem statements (demand) with solutions (supply) and increasing private sector participation, either through market access, investment, advisory, consultation, or providing testing and prototyping facilities. 

“This project collaboration amongst the great minds of Grab and KLEAN is what we aim to nurture further within the ecosystem,” said Abu Bakar.

Jakarta, Indonesia – Super app Grab in Indonesia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indonesia’s primary signal intelligence agency, National Cyber ​​and Crypto Agency (BSSN), to increase knowledge and development of human resources related to cybersecurity, especially for driver-partners and Grab merchants. 

The collaboration will hold various trainings and webinars related to cybersecurity literacy and digital economy security at GrabAcademy. It will also see Grab supporting BSSN for educational activities related to cyber security for the Indonesian people to avoid cyber attacks.

Hinsa Siburian, Republic of Indonesia’s head of the National Cyber ​​and Crypto Agency (BSSN), believes that they must have a strategy in carrying out the task of BSSN.

“And specifically for the problem of protecting national vital information infrastructure, Grab is included here, we must protect this so that business processes at Grab run safely and smoothly. If one day there will be a crisis, then we have also prepared how to manage a national cyber crisis,” said Siburian.

Meanwhile, Ridzki Kramadibrata, Grab’s president for Indonesia, shared that the use of technology also needs to be complemented by an understanding of digital literacy, especially for driver-partners and business partners.

“We hope that through collaboration that carries the GrabForGood spirit to bring positive impact from technology, Grab can continue to increase literacy awareness on cybersecurity so that everyone can participate in digital economy activities more safely,” said Kramadibrata.