Ralph Joseph Cabaluna calls on homegrown food merchants to be part of Grab app so they could expand their business beyond brick and mortar. | Contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines–Grab Philippines launched on Friday, August 16, the NakakaLOKAL Festival that aims to boost sales of homegrown food merchants.
NakakaLOKAL Festival is a month-long activity that is in celebration of the Buwan ng Wika. It is the company’s way of strengthening its support for local small and medium enterprises to stay true to their roots as Cebuanos, according to the company’s press statement.
“As the leading super app, we are in a unique position to give SMEs their chance and to empower them to grow,” said Grab Philippines president Brian Cu.
Cu noted that their company had successfully helped food merchants to expand their operations outside their establishments.
“We are happy to launch the NakakaLOKAL Festival in Cebu to strengthen our commitment to helping local SMEs to thrive,” he added.
Grab aims to put at least 1,000 SMEs on the map so they can thrive and succeed.
So far, around 800 food merchants have joined the festival, Grab Philippines country marketing head Ralph Joseph Cabaluna said during their Cebu launch on Friday.
The NakakaLOKAL Festival will run for the whole month in the Grab app and on Fridays and Saturdays during the month of August at The Market by Sugbo in Mandaue City.
Cabaluna said anyone can nominate local businesses by filling up the forms at the Grab booth placed at The Market by Sugbo.
“We have always been inspired by the power of technology when used for good,” Cu said. “And we at Grab would like to harness that asset to empower more Cebuanos to live better lives everyday.”/dcb