Grab, Southeast Asia’s leading super app, announced a series of additional initiatives to support its driver, delivery and merchant-partner community in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in Southeast Asia, Grab has worked tirelessly with governments and funded measures to render much-needed financial support for driver and delivery partners most impacted by the crisis. However, as countries and cities restrict movement and implement social distancing measures, there is a need for more measures to support Grab’s community of partners. As such, the company recently enacted additional assistance schemes aimed at alleviating the financial strain faced by its community of partners.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has caused immense financial anxiety amongst our driver, delivery and merchant-partner community. Our top priority is to ensure the safety and well-being of everyone on our platform and we are grateful for our partners who continue to provide essential services during these trying times. We want to do our part to support our partners. Thus, we have expanded our Partner Relief Initiatives to aid partners most directly impacted by this crisis,” said Anthony Tan, Group CEO and Co-Founder of Grab. 

The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing measures to curb its spread has had a severe impact on businesses worldwide. To respond to the crisis, senior Grab leaders will take a pay cut of up to 20 percent to help the business and its partners ride out the impact of the pandemic. In addition, to show solidarity with community partners who are hurting financially in this crisis, the Partner Relief Initiatives will be funded in part by voluntary Grab employee donations that are matched dollar-for-dollar by the company.

Partner Relief Initiatives

Since January, Grab has worked with governments and launched programs for driver-partners and delivery-partners to mitigate the emerging impact of COVID-19. Across the region, a variety of different support measures are already in place. These ongoing measures include financial assistance and rental waivers for driver-partners who are hospitalised due to COVID-19, insurance protection against the disease^[1] and providing eligible driver-partners with earnings support.

Furthermore, to safeguard its community of partners and its customers’ safety, Grab has distributed over 1 million masks and hand sanitizers across the region.

In addition to these measures, Grab recently launched two initiatives designed to provide more financial and enterprise assistance to Grab’s community of partners:

• Expanded coverage of Grab’s COVID-19 financial assistance scheme^[2] to most of the countries that Grab operates in. Over the past two weeks, Grab expanded the COVID-19 financial assistance scheme from Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, to include Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and the Philippines. The scheme pays out a sum to driver or delivery partners who are hospitalized or quarantined due to a COVID-19 diagnosis, so they can have peace of mind during their recovery^[3].
• Provide a variety of merchant relief measures for GrabFood merchants to help their business during this period. Grab will also self-fund, as well as partner with third parties for GrabFood marketing programs for select merchants to help them reach more customers and generate additional sales.

“The Partner Relief Initiatives aim to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on our driver, delivery and merchant partners’ livelihoods. As an ecosystem interdependent on each other for success, we are keeping our partners’ needs top of mind. For merchants, we hope the merchant relief measures will alleviate their financial pressure while helping them focus on serving their customers. By ensuring our merchants’ resiliency, we can not only meet the increased demand for food delivery during the crisis, but also provide alternate earning opportunities for our delivery-partners,” said Russell Cohen, Regional Head of Operations.

Create Additional Earning Opportunities For Partners

As consumers adapt to restricted movement and social distancing measures, Grab has seen an increased demand for food, parcels and daily essentials delivery, and a decrease in its ride-hailing business. To meet the needs of customers who cannot commute easily during this period, Grab will expand the GrabMart and GrabAssistant services to more countries in the coming weeks. The expansion of these services, and the reskilling provided to driver-partners to fulfil delivery orders^[4] will allow them to access other earning opportunities through the Grab platform.

Currently available in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand, GrabMart, Grab’s daily essentials delivery service, will expand to more cities and countries including the Philippines, Myanmar and Cambodia in the coming weeks. Users can browse GrabMart to purchase essential items from grocery stores, convenience stores and pharmacies without leaving their homes. In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, customers can also purchase fresh produce, meat and seafood via Pasar, a GrabMart partnership with the Taman Tun Dr Ismail Market.

Over the next few weeks, Grab’s on-demand concierge service, GrabAssistant, will expand into new cities in the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand and relaunch in Vietnam. GrabAssistant differs from GrabMart in that it is a concierge service that allows users to hire delivery-partners to handle important errands, or help buy essential products at stores not listed on GrabMart. This gives users, who choose not to go out often, more delivery options to meet their daily needs. Grab will continue to closely monitor the COVID-19 situation, with the safety and wellbeing of its partners and consumers being top of mind.

“As our business and communities continue to suffer the socio-economic fallout of COVID-19, we need to band together as a society – businesses, leaders, citizens – to  combat the worst effects of this pandemic. Our support for our community of partners will evolve, and we stand ready to do what we can to assist them. Even as our mettle is tested, let us continue to care for each other so we can all emerge from this stronger,” said Anthony Tan.

 

^[1]Covid insurance is available in Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
^[2]Financial assistance schemes are funded by Grab or via insurance coverage programs.
^[3]Country schemes differ and the financial assistance is subject to prevailing terms and conditions.
^[4]Subject to local laws and regulations