♪ >> 11 welcome to "high flyers." the show to give you a 360 degree view of asia's business. on today show, if the to someone who is changing the face of transport. it has become a company operating across half a dozen countries. anthony hand.

tan. >> he came up with a car hailing act that offers safety and convenience. it spread across the region. time now for him to tell us what drives him on. >> welcome. he went to harvard hoping to hone your business skills to help build the family business. startup and on a

that was not happy. >> yet, yep. homed expected me to come everyone did. and i did. i did join the family business for a little bit and then my cofounder and i started as a she had to go back to the states, my mom and i discussed it. abb requires time -- a baby requires time and investment. i agreed. i said, mom, mothers know best. and iprayed about it embarked on that full-time. , dad,to chat with my dad let me have a sabbatical.

[laughter] and i spoke to him and said let's keep it as short as possible. we negotiated, then it went from one year, and he feels i should still come back. but he knows, deep inside, that my heart is not about, being with the family, without the family, it is not binary. it is more that, how can i as an individual make the most impact in the quickest possible manner? >> grabtaxi was actually bought in harvard. it was a school project. anthony tan: yes it was. haslinda: your professor was impressed. he was saying there was a social element to it which may not be a good idea. anthony tan: the first iteration which was focused on women to safety. actually, i did not even get a good grade on it. [laughter]

they said that kind of the scale, it is not going to scale. bad grade. then, after that slap, i moved on to the second iteration. second iteration was the one we submitted for a business plan. >> it won the second price. anthony: yep. and they said, anthony, are you sure? business is tough enough. you want to focus on both making money economically, and at the same time, helping people. to very big- back monsters to fight at the same time as a startup. i think he has a very, very valid point. but, how we thought about it was, they are not mutually exclusive. by fighting for safety for women, for kids, for fighting for driver's income, actually

leads to more engagement, more loyalty. hence creating a positively vicious cycle upwards. haslinda: what made you want to help taxi drivers? i know you're great granddad was a taxi driver. anthony tan: i think, beside my great granddad, two was actually seeing the lives, the livelihood of drivers. when i would sneak out of the house at 15 years old and jump in taxis, i would talk to drivers. just hearing their life, 12-15 hours. the don't have time to go to the toilet. whether they are constipated, or don't have health insurance, or medical problems with their back because of sitting down and

driving on them. 1-2 gear shifts, it is a very tough life. i remember trying to make that case when i was on the social track. they said, anthony, drivers are not -- i said, in southeast asia, they are at the bottom of the pyramid. they can't even afford a $70 smartphone. they are poor. we obviously agree to disagree. hence i went on a business track. haslinda: stock ops usually struggle with financial backing. you have been very lucky. you have big backers. you also have backing from the likes of the richest man in japan. how did you do that? anthony tan: the subsidiary was connected by a friend. it is based in the valley, and shanghai, was hit. then tiger global was connected. it is just this instant connectivity within that

financial world. two, i think the fact they saw -- i remember one of my investors, i will not name the name, but he actually said, anthony, if i could find 10 of you in southeast asia i would bet on all 10. right? i think it is not easy to find people who won't run away with their money. they have so much to lose. street credit, credibility, and reputation is everything. my father taught us to fight for. you can be poor, but don't lose face. right? that was stabbed into our heads. haslinda: the family is one of the wealthiest in the region. definitely in malaysia.

did you feel a sense of there will always be a safety net for you? anthony tan: that i have my parents to thank. it always ingrained in us this insecurity that everything can go. right? you wake up next morning, and your stock price tanks. you are nothing. and you have to start again. i live in a high paranoid world where i think oh my god, everyone is going to leave. i will have to start this over again. once you go in knowing you're ready for this. you're ready for the ups and downs. and still, i am going to take it all the way back up, gather my teammates and my brothers and sisters, and say, wipe the tears off, you have 10 minutes to cry. no jump back into the game. we're going back into the trenches. pick up that gun we're going to start shooting again. right? i think that hunger can be trained.

i think it was taught to us as we grew up as a child. >> coming up -- anthony tan: it is important to eat your own dog food. ♪

♪ haslinda: anthony, grabtaxi has grown really quickly. how quickly can you grow from here? anthony tan: well, we are 34 month old toddler. so, we have matured quite a bit. but frankly, the market is massive if you think of, just look at singapore. what you think would be the average number of rides by a taxi driver? haslinda: a day? anthony: yes, a day. haslinda: 15. anthony tan: it is actually double that in singapore. because a driver is pretty efficient. out of 30 rides, how many do you think are uphill?

haslinda: two, anthony tan: clearly you have been reading up. [laughter] could not get you on that one. really, it is two or three. you are looking at only about 5%, 10%, 12% of people using phone, sms apps. compared to the other 28 rides. if you think about that, that is singapore. imagine malaysia, philippines, thailand, indonesia -- those numbers fall dramatically. haslinda: how far can you grow? because as much as great potential out there, there is also a lot of competition. anthony tan: yeah. haslinda: you are the new kid on the block, so to speak. anthony tan: it is david versus goliath. [laughter] that is the only way to really level you are doing. we were very blessed. we started in malaysia where

there were all these big taxi companies. they did not like us. so, we had been used to being that really minority, tiny guy fighting. when it came to singapore, we were the number one taxi app. in indonesia, there were huge companies. right? it was a challenging position. that is clear. how to remove from there? in each country it was different. we could aggregate all of the taxis. because all of the companies did not like each other. there was no one massive player. in singapore, there was a big player and many smaller players. a lot of the smaller players come of drivers had no jobs. when you talk about the 30 jobs, they would probably get on average 25. and out of that, maybe if they were lucky, one that goes to the call center booking. so, they were hungry for jobs.

any job that could be sent to them. so what we did, we did not go, hey let's try to get the big , guy. we will win, let's help the small guys. the small guy will band with other small guys. haslinda: you have to convince the driver who wants to mix with technology. how did you convince them? i understand in malaysia, you have to go to the coffee shops and show them step. -- and show them step by step. you also went all out to help them buy a smart phone. anthony tan: yeah. we went from one stall to the next stall. i remember talking to drivers while they were waiting, getting out flyers. one of us would sign up, the other downloads the outcome of the other interviews him and

convinces him. all three of us would gang on him. that was when the effective ways of doing it in the early days. then after that, when it took off, one driver, then another everybody is on grab. are you kidding me? -- evenht shift created though you're not in grab, you are out of the loop. you are not cool. but in the beginning, it was real heavy lifting. after that, it self propagated. now, most of the driver recruitment is done within driver to driver. haslinda: the app can be used in any country. anthony: yeah. haslinda: but it is implement it -- but it is implemented quite differently. it is not just taxis, it is now motorcycles. anthony tan: yes. we have grabbike in vietnam. haslinda: and nobody has done that, just to be sure.

anthony tan: we are the first -- nobody estimate before. we were the first to pick that up. a motorbike guy comes. it is on two wheels. it was all about hyper localization. haslinda: and you did a trial involving your girlfriend. you got your girlfriend to go on the grab bike. how did that turn out? [laughter] anthony tan: i think we all went well, fortunately. all of it was very, very comfortable, fortunately. it not sure that her dad will approve. [laughter] but i'm sure that it was quite an experience for all of us. i think it is really important for any entrepreneur to eat your own dog food. if i don't dare go in i don't , think we're building a product of my loved ones can use safe to use safely,s can

safely and affordably, then i don't think we are doing our job right. i grew up in this region. my family and i have been doing business in this region for 60 years. knowing these competitive advantages, then at the same time, taking the other gentleman or ladies' shoes on the other side of the table, what do they have? they understand the markets well. they understand in india, it is a very different. people see india as one country, it is actually a continent. they understand locality. understanding logistics, and a lot of it is understanding. for example, it is very different from how you want to treat people in jakarta. appreciating those nuances really helps us to scale. if you don't understand those nuances, you have a disadvantage against yourself. >> coming up --

[laughter] anthony: i was a small child. i was tubby, and round. ♪

♪ haslinda: you were one of three boys growing up. how was it like? [laughter] anthony: getting bullied all day long isn't fun. i was a small guy. i was tubby and round. my face and body connected with -- my face and body connected without a net. that was when my brothers bullied me. haslinda: good training. anthony: good training. it actually taught me martial arts. it taught me how to box, and self-defense. then i got bigger than them and they stop bullying me. [laughter] so, i think being sort of suppressed at a young age, or not being suppressed, but challenged at a young age may be

into a job mover. that really helped. haslinda: you always wanted to be a businessman. or at least, be in business. as a six-year-old you knew you wanted to be in the business despite the fact that your peers , wanted to be doctors and lawyers. anthony: firemen. haslinda: yeah, why was that? what inspired you at such an early age? anthony: so, i could not speak until six. when i could speak -- haslinda: people were questioning whether you could because you were so quiet. anthony: they took me to a special doctor. [laughter] holy cow, this guy is really stupid. actually, i was very blessed. i think my parents prayed a lot for me. men i woke up, and they found out i was confused with too many languages spoken at home. and when i could speak, i could not stop. i focused on what it wanted to do, which was business. i remember, i stood up on stage, and what do you want to do? i said i want to be a businessman. like my father.

[laughter] that was it. since then, consistently, whether it is from comic books trading to -- haslinda: it was as an 11-year-old. anthony: exactly. as an 11-year-old, or even growing up in the teenage years, always looking for different business opportunities. i would try out different things just because i love trading and the idea of comics. haslinda: how much influence was there from the family? i know business was talked about during meals at the dining table. dad is behind a company that has been in business for 60 years. anthony: it is all across the region. and, i remember having a dinner in singapore in jakarta or in bangkok, or breakfast. it was just always about what to do next, how to prepare for the meeting, how to think about it. why i should not be fearful.

as a kid, i remember going to these big meetings -- how will they think of me? what will they think of me? he, my dad, and my mom, and my brothers, -- haslinda: mom's number two in the company. anthony: exactly. she spent a lot of time guiding me. having my parents and my big brothers as mentors who would give me advice. that really helped me at an early stage. right? of course, than having a different set of mentors like now. we have people like andy mills who is not only my spiritual , advisor, but also advises me on ethics and morality. on, what do i want to stand for? when i stand in a classroom and , whoa talk to 90 students are going to be the next and yours up tomorrow. haslinda: how defend

-- how did that relationship develop with andy mills. anthony: it was through christian fellowship. he shares how he came about in his career. because of his story, i think these super inspiring stories of walking a life that you can be proud of, i remember he used to tell me do it if you believe you can stand on stage and answer the question what would jesus do? right? if you can answer that proudly, then do it. but if you can't, if you hide it, then don't do it. haslinda: you have the mantra. see yourself, be yourself, cure yourself. what is that all about? anthony: it means the idea of

feeling the problem yourself, seeing the problem itself, then fixing it. haslinda: how do you do that is the boss of grabtaxi? anthony: so, three days ago, i was driving a car, picking up people, talking to people i , think it is really important. it was completely free in the sense of me giving and getting as my payment, getting real a -- getting real feedback from the ground. talking to passengers. i feel i getting feedback, i am understanding how drivers field. being in traffic jams. now i don't own a car anymore. , i don't drive myself anymore. haslinda: by choice? anthony: by choice because i use grab all the time. i actually happened driven in so long.

making sure the little complications, making sure the safety elements is there. the app is big enough, the wording is big enough. how drivers feel in traffic jams. hearing the feedback on passengers has been amazing. haslinda: you have been compared uber. likes of over -- had you feel about that? anthony: it is so different. it is like night and day. i can't comment on how they started. for us, we are not a global company trying to be local. we are a local company staying local. i think being that in itself, is very different. the second key difference was our philosophy. we wanted to build it through help, safely, to help taxi drivers. that was our first motivation. right? the second was, how do you make sure it's a huge impact and self sustainable. to make sure we have enough to

cover and to make sure all our stakeholders are satisfied. asstantly, my role, i see it sort of like an orchestra. making sure that each of them are in sync all of the time, watching the external environment of competitiveness. so, i think those two philosophies really was a primary guide. of course, the third being, a lot of us, regardless of which religion, we all came together knowing that we believe god put us here to make a difference. haslinda: anthony tan, thank you so much for being on "high flyers. it'd been a pleasure. anthony: think you very much. ♪

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