Unlocking Podcast 10 - Anthony Tan: Driving Southeast Asias Technological Innovation, Social Impact

Unlocking Podcast 10 - Anthony Tan: Driving Southeast Asias Technological Innovation, Social Impact

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hello there I'm Sally Beauty I'm here on the Indonesian resort island of Bali it's a beautiful weather today and I'm here with the co-founder and group CEO of grab Anthony tan how are you sir thank you thank you so much for having me brilliant honored to be here it's an honor to have you here and thank you for joining me in this program we both will talk about your company and also Indonesia's D20 presidency but before that Anthony will show me a service provided by grab and it's about electric vehicles okay stay tuned on unlocking all right okay [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] wow awesome this is awesome what a privilege this is the co-founder of um grab will show me directly so Anthony um why does grab juice electric vehicles I think the most important Force we can work together on is to really Drive uh for technological innovation and one of the benefits of technological innovation is we can make real impact and what type of impact do we want to make is we see in this world today there's a lot of climate change issues and we know that you know today grab has done our part by making sure all our offices are renewable but that's not enough majority of our admissions still comes from vehicles and we have millions and millions of vehicles right that we we help uh Empower with with all the drivers so if we can more and more Electrify the fleet we can actually make an impact using technology to really remove carbon emissions so today for example we are the largest Eevee ride hailing Fleet in in Indonesia 8500 and thanks to the support of all the customers and the governments we've been able to do over 100 million kilometers in EV in our EV Vehicles saving over 10 000 tons of carbon emissions that's a real impact right how many evidence grab operate in in Bali or in Indonesia in Indonesia about 8 500. wow wow okay okay how about the availability of EV charging stations you know it is true that there is insufficient today right just now I was talking to the two IBU who are using a grab bike and or the electric district and they were saying that look I wish that we can have more swapping stations that's a real problem so we all need to come together we're still in the beginning early parts of the evolution of the district EV industry when you come to build more challenging stations more fast charging more swapping stations so that we can make two-wheel EV and four-wheel EV are a reality a common site today you don't see it as a common size I mean you're hearing even the the Moto Engine outside right imagine if it's EV it's so quiet I mean like you can't even hear you can hear inside the car it's so quiet imagine that where it becomes a norm but we need to work together to make charging stations swapping stations EV a norm [Music] by the way you are here for the for the 20 Summits aren't you yeah okay you're gonna be one of the speakers yes very very honored to speak wow wow Anthony Ellen Musk during the B20 Summit so what is your expectation from the meeting for us it's about how does this meaning drive to real collaboration great next steps that were going to solving real problems and I really have to thank president Jokowi the government of Indonesia for being such a gracious host only by hosting this here first time in I I believe in Southeast Asia we're all so proud as obvious agents that it's hosted right here to create a dialogue to create a bridge of of leaders of global leaders sometimes are two ends of the spectrum meeting and talking and being like all friends not not using virtual meetings but using traditional good old-fashioned hello seeing each other and just chatting about real problems not about my agenda your genome but solving real suicidal problems that's how this is the only way we can solve you know the Eevee cold start problem right because it needs the collaboration between businesses between governments between uh between state-owned Enterprises with private other private Corporation Partners only by collaborating and by real dialogue of being clear of the problems and saying this is what I can contribute this is what you can contribute then we can begin to really solve real societal problems right okay okay thank you well done thank you Anthony thank you so much all right and I think we are here already and we will continue our discussion inside let's do it all right thank you [Music] that's a nice drive thank you oh it's fun it's always fun yeah okay um could you share with us some of the highlights in your journey to start your business from a right hailing company to a super app now now yeah yeah the highlights that are most memorable you know I would never have imagined we would start a company that today we either feet or or how people pay or help people get to work one in 20 right across southeast Asia we're impacting uh it's just something that we will never imagine that's the reality uh recently we celebrated over now 10 billion rights right um all over all across southeast Asia just recently um you know this is just something and we would never have thought that we could build a platform as it evolved from ride hailing to providing food delivery to providing payments to providing grocery delivery to so many other services that we're providing and also empowering the millions of driver partners and Merchant Partners we serve not just in Indonesia but in what 480 plus cities today right so I think that's something uh you know the team and and really has done and I'm really proud for all for the team for doing that now I think moving forward what will we be really proud about I think we would be really proud to be continued drive real social impact whether it's uh you know helping the environment with fighting climate change right in a positive way creating much more inclusion and really through digitization using our tools and our technology to really help literally that's our mission to Drive Southeast Asia forward by creating economic empowerment for everyone using our technology so really moving forward it's about doubling down on this Mission and really helping and serving southeast Asia especially in Indonesia right how was it in the beginning yeah it was tough I mean I could imagine you just start as you know starting a business or starting you know especially when you think about trying to start a double bottom line company right because most people say Hey you know you Anthony starting a company is Tough Enough why do you want to start a company and yet at the same time helps society and create economic profit and you know just having to teach people or educate my team and educate people around me that it is possible to create a company that's double bond online in fact today we are even moving further we're saying let's create a triple bottom line company and that's what we're driving towards okay I'm gonna ask more a little bit about that yeah later so grab announced this year that the company like you said from transitioning from double bottom line to Triple bottom line so can you elaborate about it more and why the shift now yeah so for us it's always been how do we continuously build a company that's sustainable over the long run to serve this mission right which is driving southeast Asia forward by creating economic empowerment for everyone now what we also saw the realities of climate change I remember the floods in Philippines I remember it affects the livelihoods of many people including Philippines exactly in Indonesia in beautiful Bali right right I mean it's such a beautiful tourist spot climate change can affect all of us all our Industries and what we saw was many of our drivers livelihoods our driver Partners their livelihoods were badly effective when there's a flood they cannot do their work they cannot go out deliver food for us it's very important that we think about how do you continuously work with Partners to fight the negative impacts of climate change so that we can protect the livelihoods of our partners right that's why we said we have to transition from double bond online to triple bond online okay in relations to that I want to talk about environment social and governance the ASG and could you share with us what are you know the broad priorities for grab uh in the areas of ESG for us when we think about the broad principles going back to building long-term sustainable companies how do we create real social impact and the way to create real social impact we think about it in three broad goals number one environment how do you be a positive change for an environment number two inclusion right how do you make sure that no one is Left Behind and number three diversity how do you provide more and more diverse whether it's in grab or outside of drop right and Let Me Maybe I kick off with climate change so for us when we think about the climate change problem it's a real problem and I think we all must recognize it but for us we're already doing a number of things number one we committed to our goal by 2040 carbon net neutral grab will be carbonate neutral by 2040. but it's easy to just claim a goal how do we do it are we role modeling so first all our corporate offices are already running on renewable number two we said where else are we emitting carbon emissions We Said Today we're meeting carbon emissions with our Fleet because we have a massive Fleet right whereas as I said just now we have one of the largest number of drivers in Southeast Asia right so when that happens we think about okay how do we Electrify our of so we've done it in a few ways number one is we think about okay how do we build towards a large UV Fleet today we have about 8 500 I know it's still very early but even with 8500 we're already the largest ev right hailing in Indonesia right and because of that and again thanks to our partners government partners and our consumers they really like choosing grab electric we've seen with that we now with our whole Fleet over one what actually over 100 million kilometers have been done via our electric Fleet over 10 000 tons of carbon emissions has been saved because it's been running on our electric Fleet so I think that is where we've come in now early days is there more to do a hundred percent uh that's on climate change now when I think about say inclusion one big component is what are the minorities that haven't been included whether it's in our Marketplace whether it's in our business so interesting fact I learned do you know that it's two times to six times more difficult for someone who is uh who is disabled to get a job to earn a decent living compared to us right like we well you know life is very tough for us but can you imagine how tough it is during the pandemic especially during the pandemic so we really thought about how to create programs to really help this group of people and that's why we created a goal by 2025 we have many thousands of people who have disabilities but use and leverage our technology to earn an income so I'll give you a you know a story that I remember which is you know one of our partners he's a grab chaos partner oh well uh actually here in Indonesia okay and I remember you know he shared this story where it basically went from you know he really had a hard time especially during the pandemic but through grab kiosk which is just an app on his phone he could sell Digital Services he could he could sell you know help money domestic money remittances he could sell Pulsar top up and he earned so it increases income multiple by by huge amount and now because of that he could Finance you know he could grow his uh his business he can even he's even helping his son uh in his goal to become a dentist wow so you know these are the stories that how do we help not just child but how do you create thousands if not millions of people who have disability and help them come up the social ladder and help their families earn a much better living much better standard living much better rice bowl for your home right so that is number two number three we really think about diversity you know I believe is extremely important because you know I've personally felt it when there are sometimes in a room and when there's no woman leaders we make some optimal decisions I'll be honest and I found that having woman leaders it is so important you make better decisions your meetings your thoughts your thought partnership is much better you you aims to reach 40 percent exactly exactly today we had about 34 oh wow um we're not there yet but if you see Indonesia which is really role modeling over 50 of our leaders in Indonesia are women so we won the rest of the all the all the other subsidiaries globally to really learn from that and how do we eventually reach from 34 to even 50 50 where leaders are all women I think it's a journey that's the that's within grab but as I think about even Beyond grab I didn't think about our partners so you know one thing I'm very happy to share is 61 of all the msmes that we helped today and that we serve in Indonesia are women so we our job is not done we are just I would say in the beginning of this journey we have a lot more to do and and we have to just double down focus on whether it's diversity whether it's inclusion or climate change we have a lot more to do and we hope to partner and continue doubling down on this Mission awesome all right so since we are in Bali now I want to discuss about G20 related issues yeah Indonesia commits to reducing carbon emission by 2030 and the country has recently increased its emission reduction from 29 to 31.89 through its own capabilities and from 41 to 43.2 percent with International cooperation so to do so the government is determined to prioritize a clean energy transition including accelerating the electric vehicle transition so my question to you is that um what are the concrete action that can be done by the business sector including graph to accelerate the development of sustainable or renewable energy in in the country yeah you're exactly right we're in the beginning of a journey you look at um today there is what you call a cold start problem right there are not enough Vehicles there's uh if there's not enough Vehicles people don't build charging stations or swapping stations right and then but if there's not enough of this then uh then there won't be enough Vehicles because they said it's too inconvenient and they can't uh get charged right so what we did was we said it's okay let's break that cold start problem with Partners uh whether it's a partner the Indonesian government whether it's partner soes like pln or patamina uh with guest seats with uh with other companies we basically invested in 8500 vehicles so that gets it going but I think more importantly it's how we make it possible for even because it's more expensive correct yeah yeah so we because we're grab rentals we basically created a rental program and I'll you know quickly share I actually I just met uh IBU yesterday right she's a single mother two children during the pandemic a motorbike got taken away from her and she had to work as a helper for four homes right it's a really tough morning tonight because we could create that rental for the electric grab bike she does between 12 to 15 hours a day she can do 28 jobs a day she now makes 5 million groups a day she has the flexibility of sending her children to school and bringing them home she's so happy I mean just now I was talking to her when she was crying I was crying it was just a life-changing story so that's the power if we can help and create and make it more affordable and she's so smart she brings two batteries to a house every day and then charges them over five hours is full so that even during the day she's ready so she can work 12-15 hours because she's shopping all the time and that's her Ingenuity that's her hard work and really it's her right it's 100 now all we're doing is just providing it easier for someone who doesn't have Capital right to be able to do this really well and she has embraced it so how do we as an industry with Partners government partners leveraging and partnering with soes with our Private Industry help and create millions of evil usually all across Indonesia all right yeah yeah yeah okay another G20 priority under Indonesia's presidency includes digital transformation and this is your expertise yeah digital technology so uh what's your company's role to support the development of digital technologies that can bring positive impact on the socio-economic including in rural areas guys you really hit the expression rural areas is actually very tough I think number one you think about the concept and the principle Leverage so for example in many uh rural areas people may only have a smartphone some may not even have a smartphone so we created a program to finance a smartphone then they have a smartphone what can they do with a smartphone whether with an app like grab kiosks or oval they can start earning money they can start making a small they can become an omkm with us right right they can start really a SME or msme yeah right so leveraging the smart form of data you can do business already from your house right right or let's see in other rural areas they only have a motorbike then how do we help that person really leverage that motorbike uh to become a bike driver correct and earn income or I'll think about another reason I went to visit in Jakarta one of the basa traditional and ebuses I went to visit her during the pandemic her little stall right about this size you know it was so hard because people couldn't you know there was locked down there's quarantine it was such a tough life for so many people including her but she embraced grandma she used grandma she used our marketing advertising tools to get customers today 90 of her sales are online grab Mart and I'll grab Merchant helps her make 15 000 US dollars a month wow and we have we've helped many many thousands of these wet Market merchants pasta traditional right all across Indonesia so I think how do we continue to Leverage these tools where there's a smartphone whether it's grab bike whether it's a motorbike whether it's you know a little stall and use our technology to do business to help and alleviate and uplift all these mgiam or msmes across Indonesia right Anthony I just I'm just wondering um you met it was this guy you met chaheo directly and you came to them so I want to know what's their reaction when the big boss you know came to their house and then asked questions this and that I just want to know what's their reaction well just now you know I'll tell you the most recent one was just today just meeting two ladies two single mothers IBU usually inclusive uh I mean it's extremely heartwarming they you know they they keep thanking me and I keep thanking them and you know it's it is probably the most motivating I I literally told this to my team just now I said you know I don't care who I meet at B20 I don't care what happens but just meeting these two ladies has made my trip already wow wow it has made me so excited to do what we do and my team are all highly motivated because of hearing the actual impact in their lives in their children's lives because of what grab has done for them that is probably the most single biggest motivational source for me so they keep they keep saying you know but I keep thanking them because they are my soul I'm actually uh benefiting because they have become my biggest source of motivation wow wow okay um I'd like to know your views on Target and projection with a global recession possible next year yeah how are you preparing your business and then also how will you help your driver and Merchant Partners you'll be ready for it yeah I think first of all uh you know not prominent business leader I I I I I I try to think about our role uh you know our mind raise on depth or my calling is to be a servant leader and to serve southeast Asia right and then grab is just one platform to continue serving when a time when there's inflation when there's recession fears people become have a even tighter with their money right in fact I want to ask all companies to really think the opportunity is there's a huge group of people at the bottom of the pyramid that is underserved that usually are forgotten because they're not profitable to serve but if we can invent and create new ways to serve them you can actually make economic profit and create new opportunities and serve a new Rising consumer class and the better they do the better Society does the better for your business right so I think number one how did we do it so we think about for example we launched uh something called minder which is a minimum delivery fee right okay how do we we do that so that it becomes more affordable for people to order correct grab food right um we think of ways of how do we use technology to minimize the driver waiting time at our Merchant partners because you know if they wait there for a long time they get upset the merchant partner the restaurant gets upset with them so we try to find ways to minimize their waiting time because that waiting time if used wisely they can earn even more income by delivering more food or by delivering more people right so we really use technology whether it's our mapping technology whether it's our fulfillment and dispatch technology to help them become more productive by saving them their time so their driver earnings continue we drive prices to make it more affordable during this difficult time so I think that is the mental model we all As Leaders need to take if you want to really go in hand in hand and not just survive but Thrive through this global headwinds right serving your purpose and then gaining profit I think first of all purpose and profit are not mutually exclusive um you know one thing I've been very blessed with is because we started a company that was so founded on purpose that we are Purpose Driven company we've actually been able to attract some incredible Talent right and what is in Indonesia globally because I'm sure you notice many in the youth today they don't want to just work for money anymore they want to work for something that they truly believe in can they get behind their cause or not and when people can get behind the cause they fight they really fight because they believe in that cause so actually because of that purpose we've been able to track missionaries not Mercenaries and that has actually driven a company to the next level of invention next level of innovation and it's actually much more sustainable that way right number two you know I remember talking to one of the fathers of venture capital globally just just a few days ago actually just two days ago and he said one thing he said look you know the realities of the world is you look at the news the past two weeks in crypto and all that's happened and he said you know Anthony entrepreneurs around the world Business Leaders around the world must remember that a legal code that means meeting the legal bar in itself is insufficient we need to meet the moral code the moral bar and then actually in his you know he's he's a senior guy very experiencing he said over that many decades of investing he's seen the best Business Leaders the best entrepreneurs actually who live by a high moral code actually have a much more sustainable business over the long run so purpose and profit can actually live side by side for the long run okay well Anthony I don't want to end this discussion without asking you a question on some solution so how can governments in this region and the private sector can work together to promote Innovation and drive growth amid the covid-19 pandemic aim number one is if businesses think that they can do things themselves I think it will be very tough if not sometimes impossible in fact grab has taken the opposite approach which is of partnering of leveraging and standing on the shoulders of giants so one giant I would say is the Indonesian government today we partnered the Indonesian government in fact it's called the ministry of cooperatives to help us bring on thousands and thousands of omkm of msmes right right they helped us reduce the friction to unborn many of these Merchants especially during covet pandemic that is the power of partnership and working governments to reduce friction for the the the masses the the um times the msmes which is the backbone of Indonesia or the backbone of Southeast Asian economies so how can we help them rise I think that's number one really partner to reduce all the friction I think number two is you know I think about for example the EV problem the EV problem has a cold start problem right because and it the if they're not enough EVS people are worried about uh that they won't build the charging stations for it all right well or or the other way around if there's too many or if there is uh too few charging stations don't nobody wants to buy EVS so I think the governments and us and you know whether it's bln protamina you know VR guess it's all can partner on how to solve these big suicidal problems together by collaborating by using uh dialogue and fostering dialogue like at B20 to come together and say hey these are the problems that needs to be solved how can we solve them and we can totally find a way maybe not totally today but at least start the Journey of the steps of how to build a large EV Fleet how to solve this cold start Problem by investing up front with the EV charging Network to really move forward and I think the third I would say is creating sandboxes so sometimes governments are afraid hey what if example the EV experiment doesn't work it's okay create a small sandbox whether it's in Bali wherever it may be but the goal is if you create a Sandbox it limits the downside in the worst case it's just a failure in a sandbox but if it's successful the sandbox is successful this experiment is successful then after you can scale it across Indonesia across office area across the world so by co-creating with private companies like us with technology enableers like us governments can create sandboxes that we together can solve these big problems all right great once again Anthony tan thank you for joining me on this program thank you for your valuable views I really appreciate your time my pleasure thank you for your company's contribution and in the development of Indonesia and also last but not least I hope you will have a fruitful discussion during the B20 Summit if I'm not mistaken you will be one of the speakers that's right on Monday very excited for it actually wow okay all the best and have a nice one thank you so much thank you foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music]

2022-11-30 23:02

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