Once the diminutive David against the Goliath of transport giant Uber, Grab went on to acquire Uber’s Southeast Asia business in 2018.

Once underestimated and underfunded, Grab is now valued at upwards of US$15 billion on NASDAQ.

Once a son whose ears rang with the words bo yong (“useless” in Hokkien), Grab Co-founder and CEO Anthony Tan, 44, is now the loving father of a close-knit family.

To describe Anthony’s professional and personal life as eventful is an understatement.

Yet ask the business leader and father of five how he would describe his life, and he would say: “Very steady.” 

The reason? He has two competitive advantages that have kept him resolute.

In a live interview with Alpha International pioneer Nicky Gumbel during the Alpha Workplace Conference 2026 on July 4, Anthony revealed his “secret weapons”.

Kneeling in the toilet stall

NICKY GUMBEL: So, Anthony, you are the Co-founder and CEO of a company with thousands of employees that operates all around the world. What is a day in your life like?

ANTHONY TAN: On weekdays, I would wake up around 7 o’clock in the morning. The first thing I do is open my Bible. I always say: Open the Bible before opening the laptop.

Then I pray: “Father, what do You expect from me today? 
Please tell me.” This really centres my day. I am not only praying as the Grab CEO but as Anthony.

As a tech guy, I think: How do I live out a seven-day operating system effectively?

Then, I open up my calendar on my phone. As I go through my calendar, I surrender each item to God.


Before each large meeting, I also pray. Sometimes, if I can’t find a quiet place, you’ll see me scoot off to the toilet and I literally am in the stall kneeling, praying. At other times, you’ll see my wife Chloe and me holding hands, bowing our heads and praying in submission to God, just surrendering. We probably pray 10 times a day!

How do you live out your faith in the workplace, especially when we are talking about thousands of employees in different multi-cultural regions?

It is not easy for any of us to live out our faith.

Grab’s workplace is secular and our employees are very diverse. So I don’t go around preaching. But what I try to do is to live according to the Word and allow my actions to speak for themselves.

At Alpha Singapore’s inaugural Workplace Conference, Anthony shared the 4 H’s that underpin Grab’s value system, adapted from the Bible. Photo by Salt&Light.

Grab’s DNA is built on servant leadership according to the Bible. Our guiding philosophy takes the form of 4 H’s:

• Humility. The Bible says to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly (Micah 6:8). This means being humble enough to take feedback.
• Hunger. We’re not going to be the smartest guys in the room. So what do we do? We just have to work super hard. And we know that God expects excellent work from us.
• Honour. Whatever we say, we have to do. 
• Heart. The heart to serve others.

Many years ago, my Pastor from Kingdomcity, Ps Mark (Varughese), came to Grab before we launched our 4 H’s officially to the public. I had not shared them with him, but he came and talked about the same 4 H’s at our little Christian fellowship at Grab.

That was confirmation that, not only do these guiding principles come from the Word, they were to be Grab’s operational principles. They have been our company philosophy for over 10 years now.  

I believe one of the things you do in Grab is to have a 360 feedback session twice a year. How many people are involved in this?

We just had one yesterday! The whole company is involved – over 8,000 of us, giving feedback to each other, myself included.

Is it hard when you get into a position of leadership to take feedback? It would be easy for some leaders to think: “Well, I’ve been successful, I know what to do, I don’t need people criticising me.” Can you talk about how character development comes into this? 

It is humbling. I take Grab every day; I don’t own a car. So sometimes I am a Grab driver, sometimes a Grab delivery person, sometimes a Grab passenger.

I love the feedback I get. Once I was driving and had a passenger from Germany who said she wished there was Grab in Germany.

Another time I was a Grab delivery guy and I got scolded because I was late and the client’s coffee got cold. I was paddling on an electric bicycle, but I forgot to switch on the battery! 

Yesterday I was in a Grab ride and the driver did not know me. I asked him: “How’s everything?” He said he was happy using Waze. I asked him why he wasn’t using Grab Maps and he said it was because Grab Maps did not show hidden cameras around Singapore. He’ll be happy to know we are developing that feature!

The Bible tells us to have child-like faith. And part of that is knowing how to take lots of feedback, whether from subordinates or teammates.

Or our wives.

Or from our wives every day! Right after this, I am sure I will get feedback!

Anthony and his wife Chloe with their children last November. Image from Chloe’s Instagram account.

Facing Goliaths

As an entrepreneur, you have faced some big-time challenges. How did you cope with that?

We have had to face some Goliaths. 

Grab had a big fight for many years with Uber. At that time Uber was a very big company, and Grab was a small company, and they almost took us out.

At that point in time it was clear we were winning business-wise. But unfortunately, global investors were in America, while we were here in Southeast Asia. They were not aware of what was happening in Singapore and they did not want to fund us. 


So it came to a point where I had, maybe, three weeks of cash left. It was really scary.

But what we did was we just said: Look, we will do everything we can. But, in the end, we pray. And we kneel. We don’t know what is going to happen, and we don’t pretend to know. We just kneel and surrender.

My home church here is Kingdomcity. Ps Mark prayed with me, and I just surrendered.

And then, out of the blue, one of my friends – his name is Masayoshi (Son) and he runs SoftBank – he said to me: “Look, you tell me what you need. I know you – you’re going to win. I trust you.” And we signed on the dotted line in 24 hours. That’s a miracle.

It goes back to surrendering.

Then Grab made history by becoming the first company in Southeast Asia to take on an American giant, Uber, and beat them. Now they are our shareholder, and also on our Board and we’re friends. But the one thing I’ve learnt is that you’ve got to surrender and submit.

As long as you have an army of angels around you and the Holy Spirit, what do you have to fear?

Anthony spoke candidly about the Goliaths he has faced in his life and business. Photo by Salt&Light.

The second Goliath was probably even more painful as it was closer to home.

That was when my father told my mum to deliver the message to me that he would cut me out of his will. It was not the will that I cared about. It was the reminder of all the times he had called me bo yong (“useless” in Hokkien). I always had to fight for the validation of my dad.

I learnt, again by surrendering and knowing that I have a Heavenly Father, that I don’t need validation from one man, even if he is my father. I don’t need validation from the market either. I just need to please an Audience of one, and that is God.

I think a lot of people feel that being a Christian in the workplace is a handicap. You have to live by Christian values such as integrity and honesty, which some who are not Christian may not live by. But when I asked you about your faith in the workplace, you said: “It’s my competitive advantage!” How is that? 

When I was trying to raise money for Grab, I remember I was asked this question: “What is your competitive advantage?”

I have two; the first is my wife Chloe. She keeps me grounded and is my partner, not just at home but in work, family, everything. In the Bible, we see that we are not meant to be walking this journey alone, but alongside others. 

My biggest competitive advantage, though, is this: I have God.

In my highest highs, I say: “It’s not me, it’s all You, Jesus.” So that keeps me grounded and steady.

If you look at research, there are a lot of start-up founders who go into depression. But in my lowest lows  – like when we had three weeks of cash left – I surrendered: “I don’t know what to do, God. But I know You do. So help me figure it out.” 


God never fails. He may delay; He may not work according to the timing you want. But He never, ever fails. That’s signal, that’s not noise. It’s real signal. 


So because I know I can trust God, I’m super steady. You know, in Singapore English, people say: Steeaady. That is a very important part of character – people want to bet on that. They want to believe you, because they know you have a steady hand. But that’s not me. That’s all God.

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