SINGAPORE: Malaysian business owner Sarini Zainal was in Singapore earlier this month, and her post about a conversation she had with a Grab driver has since gotten a lot of attention.
In a post on Threads on Jan 12, she said that the uncle who had driven the car she booked for her family remarked on how familiar Ms Zainal was with the process because she had booked a vehicle with a booster seat.
Under Singaporean law, families traveling in a vehicle with children under 1.35 meters in height must ensure they are secured in a booster seat.
The driver then asked Ms Zainal, “Malaysia got Grab?”
“Yes, we have Grab too,” she answered
Ms Zainal then wrote that the uncle “added proudly, ‘It’s a Singapore product, you know. Power, right?’”
To this, she smiled and told him, “Yes, uncle… very good.”
She added, “Little did he know…Grab actually started in Malaysia. We missed a golden opportunity, didn’t we?”
Technically, Ms Zainal and the taxi uncle are both right. While the company has its roots in Malaysia, having been started in Kuala Lumpur by a pair of Harvard Business School classmates, Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling. Though they were born in Malaysia, both are now Singapore citizens.
The company’s name was originally MyTeksi to make cab rides safer for commuters. Its earliest operations, naturally, were centered in Malaysia.
In October 2013, the company expanded to Singapore, even while it began operating in Thailand and the Philippines, and in the following year, Vietnam and Indonesia. Between 2014 and 2016, like other startups from Southeast Asia, it moved its headquarters to Singapore, which has better access to investors and regional talent.
In 2016, MyTeksi officially rebranded to Grab and made history in 2018 when it merged with Uber for the latter’s operations in the region.
Because Grab operates in several Southeast Asian countries, some may perceive it to be more of a regional company than one tied to any particular nation, but, with what we know of human nature, people like to find pride in people or products that bring prestige to their countries.
Based on comments on Ms Zainal’s post, a number of Threads users appear to agree that Grab’s move to Singapore is a missed opportunity.
“The sad thing I realise (is that) plenty of Malaysian startups have good ideas and potential but (it’s) difficult to get funding and support. Lucky for Singapore, we even have a special area and agency that helps them, same as in Vietnam and Eastern Europe. Hence, like Grab becomes a Singapore product even though the persons who had the idea were both Malaysian,” wrote one.
“Singapore is a land of opportunity. Anyone who has the drive and ambition to succeed will find that Singapore opens its doors wide. Everyone is welcome,” another chimed in. /TISG
