Roda, who was the firm’s chief operating officer until mid-September, said that this is because the fourth quarter has always been the busiest time for Grab, given the surge in bookings for rides, deliveries, and food orders as the holiday season approaches.
“I’m fully excited to work on the challenge,” he told InsiderPH in an interview, noting the prospect of running the firm during the Christmas rush. “It’s judgment time.”
Roda — who knows the peculiarities of the business inside out, having been with Grab Philippines longer than his predecessor, Grace Vera Cruz — explained that even though the firm’s operations have been running smoothly for 11 and half months, any slip up during the holidays could derail all that.
“It’s crunch time for us,” he said.
But that’s just the immediate challenge that’s the new Grab Philippines country head will be facing. Beyond that, Roda’s goal will be to sustain the firm’s growth pace — a challenging task for the leader of any firm that is already the market leader.
In the intermediate term, the first is to step into the role of the country head and the large shoes to fill from Grace Vera Cruz, which is not easy,” he said. “That’s my personal priority. After that, it’s Christmas. There’s no more time. We need to work on Christmas, and then planning for next year.”
Laying out next year’s strategy means deciding which cities Grab will enter, what services it will launch, and which aspects of its operations it will improve on.
The new Grab Philippines chief also wants to focus on maintaining or improving the firm’s relationships with its drivers, riders, merchant partners as well as local government units and industry regulators.
Most importantly, Roda wants the firm to stay focused on continuing its mission of serving more Filipinos by meeting their customers day-to-day needs when it comes to mobility and deliveries, whether of food or other goods.
His previous roles in the company have prepared him well for the task ahead.
“Having managed the drivers for five or six years, there was always a target on my back,” he said, explaining that he has had to make tough decisions that have had broad implications for the company.
“Now, it's just [on] a bigger scale,” he said. “It's not just drivers, it’s everything: drivers, merchants, competition. So I've, in a way, gotten used to it.”
Grab considers itself a tech company and, as such, is expected by its shareholders to grow at a double-digit pace annually.
To achieve this, Roda plans to stick by the company’s principles of focusing on its partners and clients rather than on profits.
“If you do well by your customers, drivers and merchants, you will grow,” he said, explaining that all of the firm’s stakeholders are facing unique circumstances and challenges that need to be addressed.
These include customers who are more price sensitive, riders who need better income and benefits, and merchants who need better profit margins and volumes to help them keep their businesses open.
“The mission of Grab intersects with its ability to grow,” he said. “The more we help [our stakeholders], the easier it is to grow and, in a way, make money.”
Roda is especially mindful that growth must not be targeted at all costs but, instead, should be achieved in an equitable manner for all stakeholders, but most especially to its troops on the ground — its drivers and riders.
The definition of growth doesn’t end with achieving double-digit figures, he said, but must continue into providing partners with “proper earnings”.
“For grab, we strive to give what we call ‘family wages’, which is, in Manila something like P1,100 or P1,200 [per day],” he said. “It’s what's necessary for a family of four to survive. So the benchmark is not just minimum wage, it's a family wage.”
Grab Philippines’ stated long term goal is to build and sustain an ecosystem that will create 500,000 jobs for Filipinos.
The new country head estimates that the firm is now “a third of the way” in meeting this goal, with two years already going by as part of this ambitious five-year plan.
Ambitious. But with Roda at the helm… achievable.
Senior Reporter
