Speech for Groundbreaking Ceremony of Grab’s new Headquarters in Singapore, March 29, 2019

Mr Heng Swee Keat, Minister for Finance,

Dr Beh Swan Gin, Chairman of EDB,

Mr Ng Lang, CEO of JTC Corporation,

Mr Manohar Khiatani, Deputy Group CEO of Ascendas-Singbridge,

Mr William Tay, CEO of Ascendas Reit,

Partners of Grab, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for making time to join us this morning. We are honoured and humbled by your presence.

Commitment to Singapore as the strategic base

When Grab first started Singapore in 2013, we were operating out of a small unit at Midview City in Sin Ming. We couldn’t afford ground floor. It was in the back of the 7th floor. The groundbreaking today marks a new phase for Grab. This is confirmation of our commitment to invest and serve Singapore for the long term. We’ve been in operation for seven years; we want to be here for the next 70 years. The new building will allow us to put our growing team of up to 3,000 Grabbers under one roof.

This would not have been possible without having a strong base in Singapore. A minister that I met recently shared that the Singapore government decided not to over-regulate the ride-hailing industry in the early days, to give it a chance to grow and see if riders and drivers find value in the service. This progressive and forward-thinking approach has given Grab the space to innovate and iterate quickly to serve Singapore and the region, and it helped the entire industry thrive. We thank the Singapore government for the strong support.

Seven years on, our desire to make a positive impact on society remains firmly ingrained in our DNA. We must shift upwards the quality of life of people living in Southeast Asia, and vastly improve access to critical services like healthcare, insurance, mobility and financial services. These services should not be available only to those who can afford it. Why can’t we make it possible for hawkers or motorbike drivers in a small city in Indonesia to have these same services for themselves and their families? This is what we hope to solve together with you.

Singapore will continue to serve as the strategic base from which we will contribute to the growth of Southeast Asia. Today, we’re in 336 cities and we’ll continue to grow. There are three main areas that we will focus on: 

1. Build tech for the good of the communities we serve;
2. Nurture more talent for the digital economy; and
3. Grow the next generation of tech startups in Southeast Asia.

Tech for Good

Grab believes technology can be leveraged for the good of our communities. It has helped us provide safer, more reliable transport to millions daily across Southeast Asia.

We are also using technology to empower micro-entrepreneurs to thrive in the digital economy. GrabFood merchant-partners like Crave saw their revenue grow by 4x since they joined our platform. Our driver-partners earn over 30% more than the average wage across the region. This includes driver-partners with various physical disabilities who now have access to earning opportunities that they never had before.

For example, Sheriff lost a leg in an accident and couldn’t go back to his job in the shipping industry. He was able to regain his financial independence after becoming a GrabFood delivery-partner, and connected with a community of delivery-partners who have physical disabilities like him. They motivate and support each other while being on the road. Stories like these remind us of our responsibility and motivate us to passionately fight for micro-entrepreneurs like Sheriff.

We’ve also been able to use tech to bring communities together and support one another. During the Lombok and Palu earthquakes in Indonesia last year, we responded to Indonesians’ desire to help with a donation feature on our app. Close to US$140,000 was raised for the affected communities in just a few weeks. In Singapore, you can do the same and donate your GrabRewards points, which will be converted to ride donations, to the Community Chest.

We believe that every Southeast Asian deserves an equal opportunity to be part of the digital economy, and we will continue to build tech for good.

Nurturing Talent for the Digital Economy

The only way we can build tech for good is to nurture talent that is ready for the digital economy. Many people have asked me how Grab managed to build up our world class team of 6,000 across Southeast Asia. I must admit it wasn’t easy. Southeast Asia did not, at that time, have a large tech talent pool nor ready talent for the digital economy to support our mission when we first started. So we had to really work from the ground up.

We took up the challenge and groomed our own talent via university collaborations, internships and mentorship programmes. This is Ryan and Edwin. Ryan joined us as an intern back in 2013 during one of his summer breaks at school. As an intern, he was tasked to design and implement our first promo code system, which he did on his own with close guidance and mentorship from his managers.

Ryan enjoyed his experience at Grab so much that he extended his 6 months internship to 3 years, before finally going back to the United States (US) to finish his last semester. After graduation, he decided to re-join Grab in our Seattle R&D centre although there were many other exciting opportunities available in the US. Today, he has grown to become one of Grab’s tech leaders based in Singapore, and in turn, he is nurturing and providing mentorship to young tech talents at Grab. An interesting point here - Ryan convinced Edwin, his older brother, to join us when he was still an intern, and both brothers are still part of the Grab family today.

This year, we will add 1,000 new tech roles across all our R&D centres globally, including data scientists, AI researchers, engineers, designers, and product managers.

Growing the Next Generation of Startups

Grab is also committed to supporting tech startups in this region. We have been very fortunate. During our earlier days when many of us were still knocking on taxi driver windows to convince them to use Grab, there were partners who believed in us and gave us a leg up. We want to do the same and help other startups too.

Last year, we introduced our inaugural Grab Ventures Velocity, or GVV programme, that allows startups to test and commercialise their solutions with our customer base. We have seen successful outcomes - some of the startups we picked saw over 70% growth in their business when we featured them in the Grab app.

This year, we want to empower more like-minded startups. I am pleased to share that Batch 2 of our GVV programme is now open for applications with the theme of Empowering Micro-entrepreneurs.

Closing

Without your support, Grab would never have gotten here. It’s a miracle that we are blessed with such great friends and partners like yourselves. We cannot thank you enough.

I have one more ask from you. Let’s continue to work together, hand in hand, as partners. To really create tech for good. To truly nurture the next generation of tech talent. To grow the next generation of startups. We believe we can continue to make history together. So let’s kick this day off and mark this as a day to remember. Today, together with you, we will continue to drive Southeast Asia forward. Thank you.

Photo caption: From L-R: Mr William Tay (Ascendas Fund Management CEO), Mr Ng Lang (JTC CEO), Mr Manohar Khiatani (Ascendas-Singbridge Deputy Group CEO), Minister Heng Swee Keat, Mr Anthony Tan (Grab CEO and Co-Founder), Dr Beh Swan Gin (EDB Chairman), Ms Tan Hooi Ling (Grab Co-Founder) and Mr Ang Hin Kee (NPHVA and NTA Executive Adviser) at Grab's groundbreaking ceremony