Grab and Mastercard to bring digital upskilling to millions in SEA

Both companies will create training programs to support digital entrepreneurship and digital upskilling for Grab partners.

Grab and Mastercard announced a regional partnership to advance digital and financial inclusion in Southeast Asia on 14 October.

The two-year partnership will include small business training, driver entrepreneurship training, and driver financial literacy training targeted at Grab's driver, delivery, and merchant partners, respectively. The programs will progressively roll out across the region from Q4 2021, starting with a few launch markets. The partnership will also include the Mastercard 2.0 Academy initiative for Indonesian Grab driver-partners and their family members. Mastercard has also joined Grab's Tech for Good institute as an advisory board member.

"Southeast Asia is at an economic turning point. For growth across much of the region to be truly inclusive, it's important to proactively ensure that the private sector is helping to upskill people from all walks of life," Mastercard Asia Pacific executive vice president for digital and emerging partnerships Rama Sridhar said.

"We have benefitted much from the Southeast Asia technology ecosystem and want to do our part to support the development of local talents and businesses. Through partnerships with leading companies like Mastercard, we can bring high-quality training programs to millions of people and businesses on our platform. We truly believe that this partnership has the potential to unlock economic growth in communities across the region," added Grab group head of marketing and sustainability Cheryl Goh.

According to the recently launched platform economy report by Bain and the Tech for Good Institute, Southeast Asia needs to strengthen the population's digital literacy and trust to drive deeper digital economy participation.