Grab announces new Scholarship Programme to provide underprivileged children university scholarships and educational subsidies

Grab announces two new initiatives to drive inclusive growth in Southeast Asia at the official opening of its Headquarters @ Singapore.  Spanning nine floors and more than 42,000 sqm, it brings about 3,000 Grabbers and a R&D Centre under one roof.

The new initiatives include a US$1 million GrabScholar programme to disburse scholarships and bursaries to students across Southeast Asia, and a new GrabMerchant Centre to help small businesses grow online.

GrabScholar programme

Grab commits an annual US$1 million from the GrabForGood Fund towards the GrabScholar programme, which will provide university scholarships and educational bursaries across all countries Grab operates in Southeast Asia.

GrabScholar programme plans to award over 2,000 scholarships and bursaries annually. It will cover tuition and study-related expenses for underprivileged children to attend primary, secondary or vocational schools as well as universities.

Internship opportunities will also be offered to tertiary students to develop their professional aptitude and prepare them for full-time roles when they graduate.

GrabScholar already launched in Indonesia in July 2022 in partnership with Yayasan Benih Baik Indonesia. This is in addition to existing scholarship and bursary initiatives that are offered to the children of Grab’s driver-, delivery- and merchant-partners in Singapore and Thailand. This has helped to open access to quality education and transform lives locally. The new region wide GrabScholar programme is an expanded effort to support the broader communities across Southeast Asia.

GrabMerchant Centre

Grab will soon launch its first-ever GrabMerchant Centre to provide 1-on-1 business consultation services for our SME merchant-partners. It will be located at Grab HQ @ Singapore.

GrabMerchant Centre is a one-stop hub dedicated to helping small businesses optimise their online presence, maximise GrabFood, GrabMart, GrabFin and GrabAds services for their businesses, and learn to use digital tools to grow.

GrabMerchant Centre provides a suite of services:

1-on-1 business consultation with Grab Account Managers

Merchant-partners can tap on Grab’s Southeast Asia network, access to data insights and multi-vertical ecosystem. Account managers will provide dedicated consultations to advise on long-term growth plans and provide actionable business insights to help merchant-partners grow to the next level.

The 1-on-1 business consultations were piloted earlier this year, with success stories of how the data insights provided helped small businesses grow their online delivery business volume.

Prioritised operational assistance

Merchants are able to subscribe to “Merchant Concierge Service”, a prioritised hotline to get direct assistance to solve any operational issues. This ensures their delivery business runs smoothly and reduces downtime.

Workshops and networking

The GrabMerchant Centre will regularly organise upskilling workshops to help merchant-partners stay abreast of the latest industry trends and developments. These will also serve as networking sessions to facilitate business connections and a small business community for collective learning.

It launched its first-ever GrabMerchant Open House on 5 August 2022 which was well-received by merchant-partners.

More details about GrabMerchant Centre’s services and related charges can be found here.

Apart from the first GrabMerchant Centre, the new headquarters will also be home to the digibank team. The headquarters is one of two headquarters Grab has in the region. The dual headquarter is based in Jakarta, Indonesia, and serves as Grab’s regional innovation hub for small businesses.