Grab Opens a New Innovation Center to Develop Solutions for MSMEs

Grab has just inaugurated the presence of a Tech Center in Indonesia which is also the company’s innovation center for the Southeast Asia region. According to the President of Grab Indonesia, Ridzki Kramadibrata, the Grab Tech Center is aimed at developing solutions for MSME players.

“This new innovation center will handle the best technology talents in the country dedicated to Indonesia and Southeast Asia,” he said during a virtual press conference, Tuesday (10/11/2020).

According to Ridzki, this innovation center also shows Grab’s support for MSMEs as the backbone of the economy not only in Indonesia, but also throughout Southeast Asia. Therefore, this innovation center will also collaborate with other Grab research and development projects.

Managing Director of Grab Indonesia, Neneng Goenadi, said that the Grab Tech Center will be the center for the development of a series of tools that can help MSMEs transform and grow online.

The decision to build a new innovation center in Indonesia is also inseparable from the number of MSMEs which reaches 64 million. Therefore, Indonesia is an ideal place to try, then develop and incubate solutions for MSMEs.

“Later, the technological solutions made in Indonesia will be brought to various countries in Southeast Asia which have similar problems with the country,” said Neneng further explaining.

For information, Grab’s innovation center is located at Gama Tower. Neneng explained that this innovation center has an area of ​​more than 12.00 square meters, nine floors, with 111 meeting rooms and collaboration areas.

Opens the B.J. Hall Habibie Hall

At the Grab Tech Center, Grab at the same time inaugurated a new hall named B.J. Habibie Hall. This hall is dedicated to honoring the Third President, B.J. Habibie as an engineer and scientist who has presented many innovations.

Occupying an area of ​​429 square meters, this hall will function as a forum for education and collaboration for scholars and policymakers in the fields of technology, academia, and business.

“I’m so glad that the company has chosen to name the hall after the late B.J. Habibie. I hope that his legacy will continue to inspire many Indonesian sons and daughters to innovate and take an active role in building the nation,” said Ilham Habibie, son of B.J. Habibie.

Part of Grab’s Investment in Indonesia

On that occasion, Ridzki also emphasized that the launch of the Grab Tech Center is a series of USD 2 billion investments from companies in Indonesia that were announced last year. “of the 2 billion commitments, one of them is the Grab Tech Center, then there is also Grab Ventures Velocity,” he explained.

For information, Grab’s investment commitment will last for the next five years since it was announced in 2019. The opening of the Grab Tech Center has also received a positive response from the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. According to him, long-term investors like Grab play an important role in helping to realize the mission of ‘Making Indonesia 4.0’.

“To make Indonesia the country with the largest digital economy in Southeast Asia, we need support from partners such as Grab who are committed not only in terms of capital, but also resources to encourage the development of digital talent and infrastructure,” he said.

Previously, Grab introduced the Ad Manager feature in the GrabMerchant application; an independent ad creation service that makes it easy for GrabFood merchant partners to organize advertisements on their products easily and affordably.

In addition, Grab also formed a Community and Special Class for MSMEs to support Indonesian MSMEs through knowledge transfer with experts, as well as a forum for exchanging ideas. During the pandemic, Grab has introduced more than 40 solutions to help MSMEs survive, and to date has welcomed more than 350,000 new MSMEs in the Grab application in Indonesia.