
Curiosity Creates Opportunity
Originally from Melbourne, Ruby Pryor tells us how she came to move to Singapore and how her naturally curious personality found its perfect home…
For Fariz Junaidi the motivation to join Grab was clear – spend more time on the product design side of things. He tells us how Grab has lived up to his hopes and how important good design is to the company.
Before joining Grab I worked with a strategic design consultancy, it was good but unfortunately the work tended to concentrate on the āstrategicā side of things. Iām a designer so what really drives me is creating things, making things that make a difference to people. Working mainly on strategy was a little frustrating, there was design involved but mostly it was done by the clients themselves and I had to look on and go āI want to do thatā!
What I love most about working with Grab is that Iām free to focus on the strategic side and the design side. Here I get to have ideas and see them come to fruition, to know that the work youāre doing can make a difference. At Grab weāre fully focussed on the impact that our work has for our consumers, driver- and merchant-partners. That seems like an obvious statement to make but actually in other companies thatās not always the case. I find that the focus here is always clear ā how can we make things better for everybody?
One of the great things about Grab is that, although itās a big company, it almost doesnātĀ realise that it is! Itās in that sweet spot between being an established tech company and thinking like a start-up. Itās the best of both worlds, you have the support of amazing people across each and every department and things run smoothly, but then there are times when youāre bootstrapping and trying to get things done – and everybody is there to lend a hand.
I think that sense of togetherness is one of the things that is so central to Grab. Iāve always believed that you canāt impose a culture on a company, it has to develop organically, and itās the people at Grab that make it such a welcoming and unique place to be. There are many employee driven groups, supported by the company, that cover everything from sports to social issues.Ā
Beyond that is the familiar notion of āwork-life balanceā which almost becomes a clichĆ© to talk about. For me itās very simple. I love my work, but it is work. So while Iām always very happy to spend as much time as is necessary solving the issues that Iām presented with (and yes, sometimes I look up and wonder where the dayās gone), Iād be less happy if that was all I was able to do. Weāre a company of doers, not of clock watchers. What that means is that there are some days that are shorter, some that are longer.
That means that I have a really nice balance. Iāve more than enough time to explore hobbies, sports and interests in my personal life. Enough time to embrace the joy of family and friends. And enough time to feel completely fulfilled at work. Call it yin and yang, harmony, balance, whatever you like – for me itās just like good design, you just know when itās right.