‘US$5.8B BOOST TO S-E ASIAN ECONOMY’
CEO credits driver, delivery, merchant and agent-partnership incomes as well as sales generated via Grab, Kudo platforms
MOBILE technology company Grab is estimated to have contributed US$5.8 billion (RM24.18 billion) to Southeast Asia’s economy in the 12-month period from March last year.
Group chief executive officer and co-founder Anthony Tan said the contribution, verified by accounting firm KPMG, came through driver, delivery, merchant and agent-partnership incomes, as well as sales generated through the Grab and Kudo platforms.
Kudo is a platform that provides Indonesians with the opportunity to grow their business via technology. There are more than 2.6 million registered Kudo agents in 500 cities and towns in the country.
Grab completed the acquisition of Kudo in April 2017 to boost its nascent mobile payments platform.
More than 20 per cent of Grab driver-partners were not employed prior to joining Grab, while more than 30 per cent of the agents had no income prior to joining the GrabKudo network.
“In the past seven years, Grab has grown from a small scrappy startup, offering taxis-on-demand, to a company operating in eight countries and 339 cities globally.
“Our business model hinges on how well small businesses and micro-entrepreneurs perform on our platform.
“Without them, we do not have customers. It is in our interest that our micro-entrepreneurs do well economically,” said Tan at the launch of the “Grab for Good” programme and Social Impact Report 20182019, here, yesterday.
Grab has set goals for 2025 — to use technology to upskill and provide opportunities to more Southeast Asians in the digital economy.
Under the programme, Grab targets to bring digital literacy and greater inclusion to three million Southeast Asians through partnerships with governments, private companies and non-profit organisations.
It aims to help more than five million traditional businesses and small merchants digitise workflows and processes to save costs and increase productivity through technology.
It also aims to train 20,000 students through its tech talent initiatives in partnership with educational institutions, non-profits and leading technology companies.
“Grab is building an inclusive platform and is commitment to deliver positive and sustainable impact in every country that it operates in,” said Tan.