Super app Grab Philippines is putting a premium on empowering its women driver-partners to become leaders of their communities and enable their families to thrive.
Through its social impact agenda dubbed “Grab for Good,” Grab consistently provides inclusive livelihood opportunities to all of its partners. It believes that promoting better access to jobs for all women will help close gender disparities.
As with a recent study by McKinsey & Company, the global economy is projected to grow by $12 trillion to $28 trillion — larger than the combined economies of the United States and China — once gender gap issues are addressed.
Notably, the Philippines, according to the 2022 Global Gender Gap report by World Bank, has closed 78.4 percent of its overall gender gap to date. It was also tagged as a country with more female sole proprietors than men. Pre-pandemic, the Department of Trade and Industry reported that 55.8 percent of business name registrations were women-owned and run.
In addition, about 64 percent of Micro, Small, and Medium enterprises, such as GrabCars and GrabFood businesses, assisted by the DTI Negosyo Centers were women-led. Also, about 5.8 million, or 64 percent of the members of the cooperatives under the National Association of Training Centers for Cooperatives are female.
To complement these, Grab Philippines Country Head Grace Vera Cruz said Grab continuously develops a catchall platform that is accessible, especially to its female partners.
Vera Cruz said it has become Grab’s mission to ensure that partners can have end-to-end assistance from application to onboarding as well as round-the-clock access to any of the Grab Driver Centers for any assistance or concerns they may have.
As part of Grab’s commitment to supporting economic recovery and development in the Philippines, Grab is working with the government and various stakeholders in generating 500,000 more livelihood opportunities through its platform.
“Grab is leveraging its expertise to accelerate our efforts to support women and provide them with a meaningful livelihood so that they can help their respective families through our Super App. This is also aligned with our thrust to provide top notch service to our consumers, driver-partners, merchant-partners, and corporate partners. And indeed, we are proud of the community we created,” Vera Cruz said at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum on Wednesday.
For Lisza Buscaino-Redulla, 49, and a partner-driver for seven years, Grab is more than just a source of income for female partners like her, it also became a safe and open platform where they grow and their strengths are celebrated.
She said the opportunities provided by Grab allow her to pursue a livelihood that supports her family while allowing her to do what she passionately loves — driving. She is married to an IT professional and a mother to three children. On top of this, the flexible work environment that she enjoys allows her to easily manage her food business.
“I served several private companies for more than two decades before joining Grab as a full-time driver in 2016. After receiving Grab’s Papugay award in March 2017 in celebration of Women’s Month, I have committed to serve the TNVS Community as a leader and dedicate my time and effort to guide and lead by example my fellow drivers towards uplifting themselves in this industry,” Lisza recalled.
As an ally, she is also a devoted champion and advocates for passengers’ rights. Thus, with people like Lisza on the road, creating fully inclusive transportation that equally caters to all passengers is a step closer.