The Yes attitude

Our Youth Entrepreneurship Summit 2019 was a huge success! With more than 15,000 participants who joined us in World Trade Center, Pasay City and the simulcasts done in 10 schools and universities, the summit provided valuable insights on digitalization for both students and entrepreneurs.

During the summit, I highlighted the value of having a Yes attitude. The Yes attitude is a positive attitude that must be possessed by anyone, whether you are a student, a part of the working group, or an entrepreneur. A positive attitude in life is what propels many people to become successful.

Such an attitude is what people like Anthony Tan, CEO and co-founder of Grab, and many of our speakers in the summit possessed which led them in creating efficient digital businesses. Despite the challenges in the industry or market, or the struggles in developing the business itself, when one has a winning Yes attitude, he can achieve success. I believe that problems will always be part of our lives, but it is how we look at problems and turn them into opportunities.

Many entrepreneurs look for problems because it is where business models will emanate from. And hopefully many of our youth will learn, be inspired, and in the future, be like our successful entrepreneurs.

I appreciate how Anthony Tan recalled how Grab, the leading ride-hailing application, started. In fact, Grab or originally GrabTaxi initially started here in Manila. Together with Brian Cu, president of Grab Philippines, he would visit areas where taxi drivers would often eat or take breaks just to invite them to be part of Grab. Many were hesitant then, but because of the advantages that they offer, many drivers joined their group.

He highlighted that the problem they wanted to solve was the safety of women in taxis here. The goal of Grab is to provide convenient, affordable, and safe rides for both riders and drivers. From then on, Grab continued to improve their services and expand their offers.

A chat between Grab CEO and co-founder Anthony Tan and Issa Litton.

Grab is now in 336 cities and has helped uplift lives of many riders who are also micro-entrepreneurs! Tan said that helping the driver not only provided sustainable income, but also boosted their morale and their pride. “It’s not about giving you fish, but giving you the best fishing rod so you can go out and catch fish.

Grab did not stop there. They are also into delivering food through GrabFood, and creating a financial inclusive society through GrabPay. This is their way of focusing on the problem and creating a solution for it.

He encouraged the students and start-ups to apply for their Grab Ventures Velocity program which is an incubation program that goes beyond mentoring as they will also invest in startups. Through the creation of the program, it will allow more startups to be exposed to the wide reach of the Grab platform. Anthony highlighted the important qualifications: first, they have to make lives better, and second, it must create social impact.

In closing, Anthony shared, “if you can create economic wealth and create social impact at the same time while doing what you absolutely love, then there’s no better deal out there. There’s no better thing but to invest all in … and execute like hell.”

These were just some of the nuggets of wisdom from the Youth Entrepreneurship Summit. There were more valuable insights from the different digital platforms and technology players during the summit.

For us who are in their 50s or 60s, we may have to learn more about the digital world, but many of our youth today who are born in this digital era can easily take full advantage of its benefits. Digital is indeed a great equalizer which can help many scale up their products and services. I advise all of you to ride on digitalization.

Yes, it is possible to be successful in life. Never think that you do not have the chance. That is why we in Go Negosyo are creating programs anchored on 3Ms: Mentorship, money and market in order to equip everyone with knowledge, skills, and most importantly with the positive mindset and attitude towards entrepreneurship.