• Bannering the festival are various local merchants that promote the Filipino cultural heritage, foods, and crafts
• Grab introduces in-app challenges to reward users with local products and free tours
• Grab to add 1000 SMEs on the map

09 August 2019, Manila, Philippines — Grab, the leading super app in Southeast Asia,  strengthens support for small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Philippines through the launch of NakakaLOKAL Festival, a campaign that brings together homegrown businesses and its super app services to celebrate the unique flavours and traditions of the Philippines. 

The Philippines is known for its unique traditions influenced by eastern and western cultures. With over 7,641segmented islands and mixtures of influences from many different countries, every region in the Philippines is so diverse that it has formed a unique culture on its own. 

In Luzon, the most popular traditions and cultures include Walis (soft broom) from Baguio, all-time favorite Sisig from Pampanga made from pig ears, and the colorful Pahiyas Festival in Quezon that means thanksgiving feast for beautiful harvest. In Visayas, Spain’s roasted suckling pig became Cebu’s finest lechon. It is also popular for its guitar-making industry and Ati-atihan Festival in Bohol that’s devoted to the Santo Niño, or Child Jesus. In Mindanao, there’s the fresh tuna from General Santos, the various majestically-woven fabrics of the different tribes in Mindanao, and the delicious foods and beverages of the region. 

This unique Filipino culture is powered by local SMEs as they pass on traditional recipes and maintain local values in their business model. According to ADB2, SMEs serves as a backbone of Asian economies. In the Philippines, SMEs and micro enterprises combined make up 99.6% of establishments in the country1. 

“At Grab, we recognize technology as a force for good and continue to level the playing field so that SMEs can grow. Through our superapp services like GrabFood, GrabExpress and more, SMEs now have access to millions of users through an online storefront, efficiency in logistics costs and incremental revenue,” said Grab Philippines President Brian Cu. 

In celebration of Buwan ng Wika this August, Grab steps up as a proud supporter and enabler of local SMEs in the Philippines through a month-long celebration of businesses that keep the Philippine culture alive. The NakakaLOKAL festival will run for the whole month in the Grab-app and during Fridays and Saturdays of August at the Central Square in Bonifacio Global City and The Market by Sugbo in Mandaue City, Cebu. Open publicly to all Grab users, the festival features a culinary and crafts adventure with GrabFood’s most popular home grown food brands and local businesses under GrabExpress’ roster.   

“Holding this festival is Grab’s way of contributing to the preservation of our cultural heritage. We have always put the best interests of the Filipino people at the forefront of our business, and bannering proudly-Filipino SMEs to the public will help us in our goal of keeping our cultural heritage alive,” Cu added. 

Local food and crafts adventure

At the festival, visitors may embark on a culinary journey across the different islands of the Philippines. 

Consumers may enjoy the famous Aysees Sisig, a humble Karinderia that started in Mandaluyong,  and the sweet and fragrant buko pandan of Nathaniels. They may also enjoy the tasty bacon silog of Ate Rica’s, the warm La Paz Batchoy of Liezl’s, the aromatic Vigan empanadas of Empanada Nation, the lugaw of Bulalugaw,, the localized shawarma of Uncle Moe’s, and the juicy sausages of Cow Wow’s. 

Each one offers a unique taste bud experience that will surely bring Filipino consumers down the memory lane.

#GrabNakakaLOKAL Festival also features Filipino craftsmen and businesses in partnership with Karton, an online shop that delivers an alternative platform for local entrepreneurs to sell their products while providing shoppers with a hassle-free online buying experience.

Consumers may buy Auro Chocolate made from cocoa beans directly sourced from local farming communities in Davao, Cavite’s famous skin care products from Natural Balance, and a wide selection of natural organic superfoods of Green Tummy. They may also purchase products from other proudly-Filipino enterprises such as Bebebalm, Lick Iced Tea, and Foodsource.

As an added treat, GrabPay users can get a 15% discount on all food and Karton.ph concessionaires at the festival when they use GrabPay  to pay so make sure to cash in to your GrabPay wallet to maximize these great deals.

The GoLokal Team of the Department of Trade and Industry also banners other Filipino crafted, designed, and produced products that span from different regions across the country. 

Rewarding experiences and exciting prizes

To celebrate the introduction of the NakakaLOKAL Festival, Grab is also introducing NakakaLOKAL MVP, a featured in-app challenge for its users throughout August until the first week of September. The NakakaLOKAL MVP challenge include: 

• For first time GrabPay users in Manila, Cebu, Pampanga: Get Php 100 cashback when they activate their GrabPay wallet and make at least one regular transaction with a minimum amount of P200 pesos on GrabCar, GrabExpress, in-store transaction via scan-to-pay, or online payments using GrabPay. 
• For existing GrabPay Users in Manila, Cebu and Pampanga: Get Php 100 cashback when they do at least two regular transactions on GrabCar, GrabExpress, in-store transaction via scan-to-pay, or online payments worth at least P200 using GrabPay.
• For Grab users in Davao, Pampanga, Baguio, Iloilo, and Cagayan de Oro: Get a total of Php 60 pesos discount voucher when they do a total of 6 Grab rides with a min. fare of  Php 150.   

Users who complete the NakakaLOKAL MVP challenge will automatically qualify to exciting raffle promos such as:

1. 3 winners of travel packages for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao (including flight and hotel accommodation)
2. 17 winners of 2 flights tickets each via Mabuhay Miles to any Philippine destination
3. 50 winners of Good Shepherd Baguio Gift Set  
4. 50 winners of  Lechon from Rico’s Lechon Cebu 
5. 50 winners of Auro Chocolates from Davao
6. 1000 winners of Karton Gift Boxes with different featured products from its partner SMEs
7. 150 winners of Unilab Malasakit Bundles

The NakakaLOKAL MVP challenge runs until September 8.  Winners will be announced on the second week of September. 

GrabRewards users may also exchange their points for items from SMEs at the Nakakalokal Bazaars in BGC and Cebu. They can also redeem discount vouchers and freebies from Bambuhay (free bamboo straws), Folded N Hung (20% off), Akaba (20%off), Gawad Kalinga (50%off on Believe Package) for 99 GrabRewards points.

Putting additional 1000 merchants on the map

To help local businesses thrive and succeed, Grab also aims to put at least 1000 SMEs on the map. This will allow businesses to be discoverable in-app so that consumers and driver-partners can easily locate them on Grab related transactions. 

Anyone can nominate local businesses by filling out a form at the booth or by simply replying to Grab’s social media channels. Votes will be accumulated until the end of the festival on August 30. 

“We are opening our doors to more SMEs in the Philippines who wish to be part of Grab’s ecosystem. Our goal is to tap more local businesses and help them reap the benefits of our connected superapp services, which has already empowered thousands of entrepreneurs and enterprises to date,” Cu added. “We have always been inspired by the power of technology when used for good, and we at Grab would like to harness that asset to empower more Filipinos to live better lives everyday. “

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1https://www.rappler.com/brandrap/create-success/146187-globe-mybusiness-filipino-sme

2https://www.adb.org/documents/support-small-and-medium-sized-enterprises-2005-2017