Grab, Southeast
Asia’s leading Online-to-Offline (O2O) mobile platform, launched its new
Regional Centre of Excellence (RCoE) in its newly expanded 54,000 sq ft office
space here today. The Centre of Excellence will house Grab’s core business strategy and operational
functions, including legal, customer experience, financial services and
creative services. This is the second showing of Grab’s strong investment back
into the country where it first started, with the first being the launch of its R&D Centre in Malaysia just
last month, the 7th in Grab’s global R&D footprint, to nurture Malaysia’s
deep tech talents. The launch of its newly expanded office space was officiated
by YB Datuk Ignatius Darell Leiking, Minister
of International Trade and Industry.
By launching its
Regional Centre of Excellence and R&D Centre in Malaysia, Grab will
immediately create at least 400 new high-value jobs, bringing its total
employees in Malaysia to 1,000. The RCoE will spearhead development of an
in-house pool of highly-skilled professionals who are experts in their
respective domains. With Grab’s presence in 336 cities across 8 countries, they
will be given the opportunity to take a regional lens in offering solutions and
implementing projects.
The legal team will
provide advice on regulatory, policy and legal issues that impact the entire
region; the customer experience team will provide quality customer support for
several countries; the creative and design team will develop creative assets for regional marketing
campaigns and projects; and the financial services team will implement
financial, procurement and risk management policies across all countries where
Grab operate in the region.
The tech and
engineering team in Malaysia’s R&D Centre will focus on building trust and
safety solutions and capabilities that not only solve safety issues for
citizens in Malaysia, but also across the whole of Southeast Asia. As Grab
doubles down on its global investments in more advanced technology, data
science, artificial intelligence and machine learning to make every ride, every
delivery order, every financial transaction that takes place on our platform
safer and more secure than ever before, the Malaysian tech and engineering team
will play a pivotal role in setting a high bar for safety standards in
Southeast Asia, and achieving our ultimate goal of zero preventable incidents
on our platform.
“Malaysia is proud
that it is the birthplace of a technology unicorn like Grab. Grab represents
innovation, tenacity, creativity, a keen sense for business, and hard work
– values that the Government aims to
cultivate among Malaysian tech companies. We are happy to see Grab contributing
back to Malaysia and committing to nurturing local tech talents and
facilitating knowledge transfer through its R&D centre. As an everyday
super app for Malaysians, Grab not only serves local transportation needs
through its ride-hailing offering, but also plays a pivotal role in empowering
local businesses through its delivery and payments platforms.” said Datuk Darell Leiking, Minister of
International Trade and Industry at the launch. “This is exactly what
Malaysia needs to move ahead in our digital economy goals – more Malaysian
companies who have done well at the global stage to heed the Ministry’s clarion
call for quality investment back home to develop the nation, by creating
high-value jobs and nurturing the next generation of Malaysian entrepreneurs.”
He added, “Indeed
the Government will continue to chart Malaysia’s digital transformation towards
achieving greater economic prosperity and societal well-being. In this context,
the National Policy on Industry 4.0 (Industry4WRD) and the National e-Commerce
Strategic Roadmap (NeSR) are the key blueprints to “attract, create and
transform”. In particular, this entails attracting key enabling technologies to
create the right digital ecosystem; transforming the manufacturing and services
sectors into “agile sectors”, and enabling Malaysian entrepreneurs to become
‘e-commerce ready’. Therefore, the Government encourages continued
collaboration between the public and private sectors, in realising the action
plans set out in both blueprints, for our mutual benefits.”
“Our strong
investments in anchoring our Regional Centre of Excellence and latest R&D
Centre in Malaysia is our response to the Malaysian government’s call for
public-private partnerships to help drive Malaysia’s Industry 4.0 blueprint and
digital economy ambitions. We are committed to helping Malaysia unlock greater
economic gains by creating high-value jobs, nurturing deep tech talents, and
attracting more Malaysians overseas to return home. We have always remembered
our roots, as Malaysia is where we founded Grab almost seven years ago, with
the simple goal of solving the problem of transportation safety. Now that we
have grown beyond ride-hailing to become the leading SEA’s everyday super app,
it is natural for us to contribute back to the country where we first started,”
said Sean Goh, Country Head for Grab
Malaysia.
“These investments
are above and beyond our continued mission to make transportation accessible
and safer for all, while at the same time, creating better income-earning
opportunities for our driver and delivery partners, and enabling local
businesses to leverage our user base and distribution network to earn higher
business revenue. There is a lot more we can do to improve the daily lives of
fellow Malaysians, and we want to partner closely with the Malaysian government
to develop win-win regulations and policies that allow innovation to thrive,
and best serve the interests of the larger Malaysian population”, added Sean.
Grab is committed
to contributing to Malaysia’s Industry 4.0 blueprint in the following areas:
1. Shared, Seamless and Smart
mobility solution for all: We will make transportation
more accessible for all Malaysians. With the widest range of transportation
services already readily available on our platform, we will work closely with
governments, public and private transportation providers to serve the
first-mile-last-mile transportation needs of Malaysians.
2. Better livelihoods and income-earning opportunities for
driver-partners: 86% of our driver-partners supplement
their income part-time with Grab. These driver-partners earn 37% more supplementary
income with Grab, on top of their
day-to-day jobs. Our GrabTaxi driver-partners also earn 10% more daily income
compared to the past when they can only rely on street-hails and regular taxi
bookings. We will continue to better the livelihoods of our driver-partners and
offer increased income-earning opportunities, greater financial support, better
technology tools and skills training, and more community activities for them
and their loved ones.
3. Digital shop fronts for
GrabFood, GrabRewards and GrabPay merchant partners:
We will empower micro-entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized businesses to
set up their digital presence on Grab app and leverage our user base and
distribution network to earn higher business revenue.
4. Access to GrabPlatform to help like-minded start-ups and partners scale
their business: Partners can either build their
services into GrabPlatform or integrate Grab’s suite of technology and products
into their own websites or apps, for example GrabPay for mobile payments,
GrabExpress for logistics, or GrabProfiles for user authentication. This will
give partners direct access to Grab users and help scale their business faster.
About Grab
Grab is one of
the most frequently used O2O mobile platforms in Southeast Asia, providing the
everyday services that matter most to consumers. Commute, eat, deliver shopping
– and pay with one e-wallet. Grab believes that every Southeast Asian should
benefit from the digital economy, and the company provides access to safe and
affordable transport, food and package delivery, mobile payments and financial
services. Grab currently offers services in Singapore, Indonesia, the
Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia. For more
information, please visit www.grab.com.
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