Want to Succeed in Business? Find a Problem to Solve | Anthony Tan and Amane Dannouni | TED

Summary

Anthony Tan, CEO and co-founder of Grab, shares his vision for the company, which began with addressing safety concerns in transportation and evolved into a multi-service platform combining ride-hailing, food delivery, and financial services. Born in Malaysia and based in Singapore, Tan emphasizes the importance of creating a for-profit social enterprise with a focus on empowering everyday entrepreneurs and addressing societal issues such as the rich-poor divide. He also discusses Grab's expansion across Southeast Asia, strategic design choices, and the company's commitment to environmental sustainability and net carbon neutrality by 2040.

Takeaways

• 🌟 Anthony Tan, the CEO and co-founder of Grab, envisions his company as a for-profit social enterprise with a double bottom line, focusing on both economic and social impact.
• 🚗 Grab started with a focus on safety for women and children in transportation, addressing a personal issue and a widespread concern across various regions.
• 💡 The idea of solving safety issues unlocked further possibilities, enabling children and women to safely attend school and work, and supporting the broader societal goals.
• 💰 By introducing GrabPay, the company aimed to enhance safety for drivers and provide a cashless, convenient solution for customers in high-cash societies.
• 🚀 Grab expanded into financial services, offering loans and digital banking to support their drivers and merchants, catering to the needs of the gig economy and small businesses.
• 🌍 The decision to scale geographically across Southeast Asia was strategic, aiming to address common problems and serve a diverse population of 650 million people.
• 🛠️ Grab chose to work with existing taxi drivers and low-cost mobility options to ensure widespread accessibility and affordability from the start.
• 📈 The company faced the challenge of balancing regulatory compliance with rapid growth, opting for a collaborative approach with governments and regulators.
• 🌱 Grab has evolved to embrace a triple bottom line, acknowledging the importance of environmental sustainability alongside economic and social goals.
• 🔋 Investment in low-emission and electric vehicles, as well as collaboration with governments, are part of Grab's strategy to reduce their carbon footprint and move towards net carbon neutrality by 2040.
• 💼 Anthony Tan encourages entrepreneurs to start businesses with a double or triple bottom line, addressing real societal issues and pursuing a mission they are passionate about.

Q & A

What is Anthony Tan's role in the tech community and Southeast Asia?

Anthony Tan is the CEO and co-founder of Grab, a platform that combines services similar to Uber, DoorDash, and PayPal. He is well-known in the tech community and Southeast Asia for his innovative work and leadership in the region.

How does Anthony Tan describe his personal background?

Anthony Tan describes himself as Malaysian-born, based in Singapore, and a man of faith. He mentions being a son, husband, and father, emphasizing his family values and religious beliefs.

What was the initial idea behind Grab when it was founded 12 years ago?

The initial idea behind Grab was to create a for-profit social enterprise, focusing on safety for women and children in transportation, starting with Malaysia. The business model was designed to address social issues from day one, aiming for a double bottom line approach.

What personal experience influenced Grab's focus on safety?

Anthony Tan's co-founder, Ling, used to finish work late at night and had to take precautions like pretending to be on a call with her mom while in a taxi for safety. This personal experience highlighted the need for improved safety in transportation.

How did Grab expand its services beyond ride-hailing?

Grab expanded its services by introducing Grabpay, a cashless payment solution, and then moved into financial services like Grab lending to support drivers and merchants in expanding their businesses. The creation of digital banks was also part of the expansion to cater to the financial needs of gig workers and small merchants.

What was the rationale behind Grab's decision to scale across countries in Southeast Asia?

The decision to scale across countries in Southeast Asia was driven by the desire to solve a common problem that could be addressed by the proven solution Grab had developed. The company aimed to serve a large population and achieve scale and velocity, which were essential for providing efficient services and maintaining sustainability.

How did Grab approach the design of its mobility services?

Grab designed its mobility services to cater to the masses, focusing on low-cost options like taxi drivers, tuk tuks, and two-wheelers. The approach aimed to serve the bottom of the pyramid and ensure both profitability and sustainability.

What challenges did Grab face in working with regulators in the region?

As mobility services are regulated in the region, Grab had to work closely with regulators. Instead of moving quickly and stepping on toes, Grab chose to involve governments in co-creating a new vision of mobility, aligning with their developmental agendas and ensuring long-term success.

How does Grab address the environmental aspect of its business?

Grab has moved from a double bottom line to a triple bottom line, incorporating environmental considerations into its business model. The company is committed to net carbon neutrality by 2040 and has invested in low-emission and electric vehicles, while working with governments and partners to develop infrastructure and financial solutions to support this transition.

What advice does Anthony Tan have for entrepreneurs?

Anthony Tan advises entrepreneurs to start businesses with a double or triple bottom line approach, focusing on solving real social problems. He emphasizes the importance of having a strong calling or purpose and being willing to put in significant effort to address societal issues.

How does Grab's mission align with its approach to social and environmental impact?

Grab's mission to empower everyday entrepreneurs is closely tied to its focus on social and environmental impact. By addressing issues like safety, financial inclusion, and environmental sustainability, the company aims to uplift those at the bottom of the economic pyramid and contribute to a more equitable and sustainable world.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 Introduction and Background of Anthony Tan

This paragraph introduces Anthony Tan, the CEO and co-founder of Grab, a major tech company in Southeast Asia. Anthony is described as a multifaceted individual, being a Malaysian-born entrepreneur based in Singapore, and a family man of faith. The conversation begins with Anthony sharing his initial idea behind Grab, which was to create a for-profit social enterprise from the outset, focusing on safety in transportation, particularly for women and children in Malaysia. He discusses the personal motivation behind this focus, the broader global issue of safety, and the potential for unlocking societal opportunities by addressing this concern.

05:03

🚀 Expansion into Financial Services and Geographical Scale

In this segment, Anthony elaborates on Grab's expansion beyond transportation into financial services, including the creation of GrabPay and digital banking solutions. The aim was to cater to the needs of drivers and merchants, providing them with financing options and daily interest accrual on savings. The discussion then shifts to Grab's strategy for geographical expansion across Southeast Asia, emphasizing the importance of scale and velocity in the business model. Anthony explains the deliberate choice to address a common problem across the region, serving a broad population of 650 million people.

10:06

🛠️ Design Choices and Regulatory Collaboration

Anthony discusses the strategic design choices Grab made in its early stages, such as focusing on taxi drivers and low-cost mobility options to serve the masses and ensure profitability. He contrasts Grab's approach with that of other companies in developed countries and highlights the importance of working with regulators due to the highly regulated nature of the industry. Anthony shares his belief in co-creating a vision of mobility with governments, which ultimately supported Grab's growth and allowed them to outpace competitors like Uber.

15:06

🌱 Commitment to Environmental and Social Impact

The conversation turns to Grab's commitment to environmental sustainability, with Anthony explaining the company's shift from a double bottom line to a triple bottom line approach. He acknowledges the impact of climate conditions on their business operations and outlines Grab's goals for carbon neutrality by 2040. Anthony details the investments in low-emission vehicles, the promotion of zero-emission deliveries, and the company's efforts to build infrastructure for electric vehicles in collaboration with governments. He admits that while progress has been made, there is still much work to be done in this area.

💡 Final Thoughts and Advice for Entrepreneurs

In the concluding part of the interview, Anthony offers advice to entrepreneurs, advocating for the establishment of businesses with a double or triple bottom line. He emphasizes the importance of addressing social issues, such as the growing rich-poor divide in Southeast Asia, and the potential for social disruption if left unaddressed. Anthony shares his personal conviction and sense of calling in his entrepreneurial journey, encouraging others to pursue a path that aligns with their passions and societal impact. He stresses the significance of hard work and dedication, and the pride that comes from striving to solve real societal problems.

Keywords

💡Grab

Grab is a major technology company in Southeast Asia, offering services such as ride-hailing, food delivery, and payment services. In the video, Anthony Tan, the CEO and co-founder of Grab, discusses the company's inception and its evolution into a platform that combines various services, aiming to address social issues while remaining profitable.

💡Social Enterprise

A social enterprise is a business that aims to achieve social, cultural, or environmental objectives alongside its financial goals. In the context of the video, Anthony Tan describes Grab's founding as a for-profit social enterprise, meaning it was designed from the outset to address social issues, specifically safety in transportation for women and children in Malaysia.

💡Safety

Safety refers to the state of being protected from harm or risk. In the video, it is highlighted as a core issue that Grab sought to address, particularly focusing on the safety of women and children using transportation services in Malaysia, which was a personal problem for the co-founders.

💡Financial Services

Financial services encompass a broad range of economic services provided by financial institutions, including banking, lending, and investment services. In the video, Anthony Tan discusses Grab's expansion into financial services, creating products like GrabPay and Grab lending to support both drivers and merchants, and eventually leading to the establishment of digital banks.

💡Geographic Scale

Geographic scale refers to the size or extent of an operation or activity across different geographical areas. In the video, Anthony Tan talks about Grab's decision to scale its operations across multiple countries in Southeast Asia, aiming to serve a diverse population of approximately 650 million people and addressing common social and economic issues.

💡Regulation

Regulation refers to the rules or directives made and maintained by an authority. In the context of the video, it is mentioned that Grab had to work with regulators because the mobility services it provides are subject to government regulations. This collaboration was crucial for Grab's expansion and integration into different markets.

💡Electrification

Electrification is the process of converting systems or vehicles to electric power. In the video, Anthony Tan talks about Grab's commitment to electrify its fleets to reduce carbon emissions and protect the environment, which is now a part of their triple bottom line business model.

💡Rich-Poor Divide

The rich-poor divide refers to the economic disparity between the wealthy and the poor in society. In the video, Anthony Tan emphasizes Grab's mission to address this divide by uplifting the bottom of the pyramid and providing opportunities for economic advancement.

💡Calling

A calling is a strong inner urge or passion to pursue a particular career or mission in life. In the video, Anthony Tan describes his motivation for starting Grab as a calling to solve real societal problems, such as the rich-poor divide, and to make a positive impact on society.

💡Triple Bottom Line

The triple bottom line is a business accounting framework that considers three factors: economic, social, and environmental. It suggests that a company's success should not be measured solely by financial performance but also by its social and environmental impact. In the video, Anthony Tan explains that Grab evolved from a double bottom line (economic and social) to a triple bottom line approach, including environmental considerations in their business model.

Highlights

Anthony Tan is the CEO and co-founder of Grab, a platform combining ride-hailing, food delivery, and payment services.

Grab was initially conceived as a for-profit social enterprise with a double bottom line business model.

The motivation behind Grab's creation was to address safety issues, particularly for women and children in transportation.

Anthony Tan's co-founder, Ling, inspired the focus on safety due to her personal experiences taking taxis late at night.

Grab aimed to solve a universal problem of safety in transportation, which解锁了更多可能性 for children and women.

The introduction of GrabPay was a solution for safety and convenience, eliminating the need for cash and enabling quick exits from vehicles.

Grab expanded into financial services, including lending and digital banking, to support their drivers and merchants financially.

The decision to scale geographically across Southeast Asia was intentional, aiming to cover a diverse region of approximately 650 million people.

Grab chose to approach taxi drivers and low-cost mobility options to serve the masses and be profitable while addressing social issues.

The choice of working with regulators and existing mobility providers was a strategic decision to ensure long-term success in a highly regulated industry.

Grab has evolved from a double bottom line to a triple bottom line, incorporating environmental considerations into their business model.

The company is committed to net carbon neutrality by 2040 and has invested over 200 million US dollars in low-emission and electric vehicles.

Grab's approach to scaling involved strategic design choices, such as targeting Android smartphones to serve the bottom of the pyramid sustainably.

Anthony Tan emphasizes the importance of starting a business with a strong social mission and addressing real societal problems.

Entrepreneurs should pursue a double or triple bottom line business to uplift the less fortunate and contribute to solving social issues.

Anthony Tan believes that feeling a calling from above gives an entrepreneur a competitive advantage due to the willingness to work harder and the pride in their mission.

Grab's success in fighting Uber head-on and winning demonstrates the effectiveness of their strategic and collaborative approach.

The company's journey towards electrification and environmental sustainability is ongoing, with continuous efforts to improve and meet their goals.

Transcripts

Amane Dannouni: So, Anthony, you're well-known in the tech community,

you're well known in Southeast Asia,

but for those who don’t know you, you’re the CEO and cofounder of Grab.

Grab is essentially the combination of an Uber plus a DoorDash

plus a PayPal, all on the same platform.

You are Malaysian-born, you're based in Singapore,

you are a son, you're a husband, you're a father, you're a man of faith.

Am I missing anything?

Anthony Tan: Well, first of all, I'm squirming.

You know, I grew up with Asian parents, so I'm not used to such kind words.

But thank you so much for that.

AD: You're welcome.

So, Anthony, you've had this question a million times,

but I think it's the right way to start.

You cofounded Grab.

Can you walk us through the initial idea that you had

for the business 12 years ago?

AT: Historically, you would say, at least in the Asian,

which I grew up with,

methodology was really,

hey, let's build a business, get rich when you're 50, 60,

then contribute back

and build your own philanthropy or foundation.

AD: So why not that?

Because it sounds intuitive, right?

So make money out of a business and then take that money

and do something good at some point.

Why not choose that route?

AT: I think there could be a few scenarios when that happens.

One is you get tempted and don't want to give back.

Two is, you actually cause

negative externalities, right?

You pollute, you, whatever.

Because if it's all you are inspired by is profit maximization,

then unfortunately, you could cause a lot of harm.

The argument is, yes, you could then create a foundation to sort of solve that.

But we're going to talk about, you know, when I came out, I was in [my] early 30s,

and then that's going to be 30 years of damage, potentially,

versus in our case, it's literally building it from day one.

In fact, when we came up with the business plan,

it was a for-profit social enterprise,

a FOPSE, or a double bottom line business.

And we actually didn't even submit it for the business plan track.

We actually submitted it for the social enterprise track.

That was the intent.

AD: So, Anthony, out of all the social problems that you could have solved,

you focused on safety.

Safety for women and children in transportation

and very specifically, in Malaysia.

Why is that?

AT: Safety was a very personal problem for us.

My cofounder and I, Ling,

she used to finish work late at night,

her consulting hours, at 11pm, for example.

She would then have to jump in a taxi

and pretend that she's on a call with her mom

just so that a driver would know she's with somebody else.

And if anything was to happen to her, she could call for help.

That was how she had to go through life,

as a consultant, when she finished late hours.

So that's one, personal.

Second is, we wanted to go for a problem that was,

even yourself, if you lived in a States, you just crossed over Mexico City,

you know, 12 years ago, you probably were worried to take a taxi,

a random taxi as well.

So it was sort of a global problem.

The third, what we felt was when you could solve the safety problem,

you actually unlock a lot of possibilities.

So children could go to schools without being worried.

Because it wasn't a affordability issue,

they were scared to take taxis

or women would be scared to take a taxi to work,

and then they would choose not to go to work.

And that leads to all kinds of second-order effects.

So we wanted to create or enable

a group of people in society to whatever they can achieve

and allow those opportunities to take place.

So now drivers have a lot more income.

They then became susceptible to crime because they had a lot of cash,

because they were now earning a lot of money,

and they basically became a mobile ATM machine.

And what we did then was we said, look, let's invent,

at that point in time, Grabpay,

which would take out cash from the driver's hands

and keep them safe.

And it was literally in the driver wallet,

and it had ways of managing their safety.

AD: So Anthony, I do get the transition from solving the safety in transportation

to ride hailing.

But then you went into payment,

broader financial services and even a full-fledged bank.

Why don't you walk us through that story,

how you went through one to the other?

AT: Sure.

So we said, take cash out of the system by creating Grabpay.

Now, the benefit of that was safety for the drivers,

but also our customers could walk in and out

even in a high-cash society like Southeast Asia.

Then we said, our drivers and including our merchants actually needed more.

They needed financing to expand their businesses.

And that's when we created Grab lending

so that they can move from not just being a driver,

but they started being able to borrow, to own two or three bikes,

and then they could then rent those bikes out.

Then we created the digital banks

because we realized, again, for them,

their problem was if they were to save money in a traditional bank,

they were to save at least 30 days to earn the interest for that month.

What we'd created was a digital bank

that allows any of our gig workers to earn interest on a daily basis.

So even if they can afford to save money for 10 days,

they would accrue interest for those 10 days.

So it was very catered for a segment of people which are our drivers

and our long-tail merchants,

whether they sell, you know,

bobo ayam or chicken porridge at the sides of the street in Jakarta.

And that was a common thread, was serving this segment.

That's how we went across services.

AD: Got it.

A second way you scaled the platform,

so we talked about different services building on top of each other.

You also went for a geographic scale.

You are now present in eight different countries.

For those who don't know Southeast Asia,

it's a very diverse place.

Singapore is not Malaysia is not Philippines.

And the GDP per capita is not the same,

the languages are different.

That also was a conscious decision.

Why did you choose to scale across countries in the region?

Because you could have stuck to “I’m solving the safety issue in Malaysia,

and I'm solving the other issues, why don't I solve them in Malaysia?"

You deliberately wanted to have such a broad scope

that covers I think, if I'm not mistaken,

something like 650 million people across the eight countries.

Why is that?

AT: So first of all, again, focus on what was a problem

that could be solved.

That's one.

Two, we already had a solution,

it was a proven solution that can scale across countries.

Third was, when we built this business

as a double bottom line business model,

we knew that we needed scale and velocity by design.

Scale and velocity allow for a few things.

One, when you have scale, it allows for a lot of supply.

Because customers don't want to wait two hours for a car.

They want it in five minutes.

Scale allows that.

Velocity allows for very high density of bookings,

or, say, in our case, for food business,

it allowed for batching.

And batching is very important

because one, as a double bottom line business,

you can drive to lower cost

in a lower-margin business to serve the bottom of the pyramid.

Sustainably.

AD: I remember initially for you, you didn't approach, you know,

random people who then can drive cars.

You approach the taxi drivers.

That's a very important design choice.

Can you talk us through why you made that choice?

AT: You're right.

The design choice we chose was to go with taxi drivers

and then even go even lower than that.

To go to tuk tuks, to go to two-wheels, right?

To go to, in Philippines, they've got habal habal, right?

Really low-cost ways of mobility.

Versus, if you look at what our other peers did

in more developed countries,

they took black cars as their first wave of attack.

Now two different design choices.

Number one was we wanted to be

a real mobility solution for the masses.

Again, why?

Because the beginnings was always about how might we serve

the bottom of the pyramid.

So it was, if we can serve a ride for 20 cents,

we'll try and get that

versus a 200-dollar airport ride.

So that was a difference.

By design, it was built to serve the bottom of the pyramid.

Yet you had to be profitable, yet you had to be sustainable.

The second design choice then was

we said how do we then scale very quickly?

And that's when we designed ways of getting driver, get driver.

We designed ways of building it.

So in the early days, it wasn't built on an iPhone.

Our peers built it on iPhone.

We went for a 2.25 inch screen Samsung

at that time, Samsung was the earliest in Android,

and we bet on Android

because it was the lowest-cost smartphone at that point in time.

Again, design choice so that we could serve the bottom of the pyramid

and be sustainable at the same time.

AD: Did you ever think in hindsight that if I have done it differently,

it might have scaled faster

than the time it took you to convince the taxi drivers?

AT: I think that's a fair question, because the traditional sort of, you know,

let's call it "Valley-based" start-up way is, look, I step on toes,

I do whatever it takes.

Just move, hustle, hustle and move as fast as you can, right?

Even if you break things, it's OK.

We took a different approach again,

because we chose mobility as our first design choice,

we knew it was regulated in the region.

And because we chose taxis as our first vehicle type

or mobility type,

we knew that was regulated.

So we knew we had to work with the regulators.

And yes, we were running fast.

So maybe it's less of stepping on feet but more pulling them along.

We said, let’s cocreate this new vision of mobility

together with governments.

And when we became part of their developmental agenda,

it actually supported us

because they said, maybe the counterfactual could have been,

"Hey, you could have moved so much faster in the beginning."

Maybe.

But I would say I would have been jammed then,

because it's a highly regulated industry.

Instead, I may have moved slow in the beginning,

but in the long run,

we actually outpaced and, as you know,

we actually fought Uber head-on, for many years,

and we won.

AD: So Anthony, we talked about the double bottom line business,

and it makes a lot of sense.

Now there is economic, there is social.

But we're increasingly talking about the third bottom line

which is environment.

In your business model,

is there space for that third bottom line to take as much space as the second?

AT: Absolutely.

You are absolutely on point,

because we moved from a double bottom line to a triple bottom line.

Again, it wasn't altruistic.

I'll be up-front.

It was because when we saw that climate conditions

actually impact economic conditions of the business,

when there's a flood in Manila or in Jakarta,

our drivers can't move.

And when they can't move, there's no business.

Our business is all about flow.

And if there’s no throughput, and we’re not delivering food

or not getting customers from A to B, there's no business.

Drivers don't earn their income.

It goes against our mission.

So very well,

we had to protect the environment

so that the economic conditions continue

so that we can serve our mission

of empowering everyday entrepreneurs.

Now, how do we do it?

I think number one, we first set a goal.

So by 2040 we're committed to net carbon neutral.

Second, we identify what is creating the most carbon

that you might say is a proxy to deterioration of environment

is our fleets

because we are in the business of moving things or people.

So the third was then how do we bring our fleets

to reduce a big chunk of their carbon?

It's by moving them into some form of electrification or zero emission.

So some progress there.

Number one is, we've invested over 200 million US dollars

in low-emission vehicles and electric vehicles.

Two, in Singapore, for example,

something like 50 percent of all our deliveries are done zero emissions.

That means by walkers,

by personal mobility devices that are electric-powered,

these are very efficient.

Third is, in Indonesia,

we actually have racked up the most number of electrified miles

across all our mobility and deliveries

across our two-wheel mode of transport.

But the honest truth is, we're not there yet.

We are very much a work in progress.

So today we're working closely with governments.

I was just with another potential partner about charging point operators

and making sure that EV infrastructure is working out

and incentives on how to get the initial cost of investment --

because EVs, the total cost of ownership may be good,

but the initial investment tends to be higher.

So how do we facilitate that with governments?

And then how do we continuously build our financial services

so that we can help mitigate that high initial cost of investment?

So all in all, I would say we are still on this journey.

We haven't cracked the code,

but we have clear progress on it, and we’re going to hit our final goal.

AD: It's completely fair.

This is, I think, a journey where many,

many of us are still trying to figure out.

And it's slightly different from the social question

because it's by definition global.

And it's very hard to fight it only in certain corners.

AT: But we all have to do our part.

AD: Absolutely.

Let me ask you a final question, Anthony, to end this,

if you have a message for entrepreneurs out there, what would it be?

AT: Amane, if you're an entrepreneur,

I would say start a double bottom line or triple bottom line business.

And why is that?

Number one is,

I really believe that there are real social problems out there.

One of [those] social problems, for example,

that we are really looking at is this rich and poor divide.

And if you look at, say, in Southeast Asia,

according to World Bank,

this rich-poor divide is actually getting worse in each country,

in Southeast Asia especially.

And for us, we had that calling, that calling to address this divide.

And why?

Because we saw that if the rich-poor divide gets worse,

we can see massive social disruption take place.

So for us, we don't want to wait for that to happen

in this part of the world.

We want to address that up front.

And the best way to address that up front is to say:

How can we uplift the bottom of the pyramid

and help them rise?

And we felt that this calling is so deep.

And frankly,

as an entrepreneur,

you need to know that the hours you're going to be putting in

[are] going to be so significant,

and the borders between your private life

and your public life is completely going to merge.

So you better do something that you love,

that you are absolutely convicted on.

In my case, I felt that this was literally a calling from up above.

And when you feel that it's a calling from up above,

you have a competitive advantage

because you're willing to put in hours that are many more than anybody else.

You're going to feel that you're going to be so proud,

even whether you succeed or you fail.

You can say to your children's children

that: “I did this because the intent was to solve a real societal problem.”

And that is something

that I would really encourage all entrepreneurs to fight for,

their own calling.

AD: Anthony, on that note of passion that I love, thank you very much.

AT: Thank you.