Grabcar a huge success in Southeast Asia within five years

SINGAPORE: Developed in Malaysia exported to Singapore, Grabcar has proven to be a huge success in Southeast Asia within five years of its launch.
The founders of Grabcar, Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling, said they decided to launch the MyTeksi app in Malaysia in 2012 because of the problems faced by the public in hailing a taxi.
"Many taxi drivers would pick where they would want to drive to and some would not follow the metred fare.
"On top of this many women felt unsafe traveling alone in a taxi due to the alleged number of rogue drivers in the industry," they said.
Hooi Ling said her parents especially her mother was very adamant that she should not use taxis and they would always have arguments whenever she used them.
"If I used a taxi I had to constantly inform my mother of the route I was, the taxi number, where I was and when I reach my destination," she said, adding that it was about than that Tan and she decided to launch an application making it easier for people to get a taxi.
Tan said when they first started in 2012 it was difficult to get people to support them and that he had to go door to door to convince them.
He said it was pure grit and not taking "No" for an answer that kept the team and him going
Speaking to the press during Grab's fifth anniversary celebration he said they had a difficult time in persuading taxi drivers to sign up because they were worried about payment as well as this being something new in the market.
"No matter what we did whether we had enough money or not we had to ensure that the Myteksi drivers got paid. We needed to build up their trust and by ensuring they got paid on time would build that trust," he said.
He said they were overwhelmed by the response from the public on the first day they launched the MyTeksi application.
He said they received about 11,000 request on day one but did not have enough drivers to go around.
"My team and I started calling the customers to find out how quickly they needed the service and tried to find the nearest driver to pick the person up," her said.
Anthony said today they have presence in seven countries (Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines Vietnam and Myanmar) and in 55 cities and they plan to expand to more cities in the region.
He added that they will continue to grow and since 2013 Grab has grown its number of passengers by 360% year-on-year on average.
Anthony said they have 930,000 Grab drivers now and this number continues to grow as they go forward with their expansion plan.