MANILA, PHILIPPINES — GrabPay, the in-app wallet of Southeast Asia’s leading superapp Grab, has been named the exclusive payment partner of farm-to-table e-commerce platform Mayani for the upcoming Hybrid National Food Fair. The partnership will allow consumers to make cashless payments when they buy agricultural produce during the event, helping to support thousands of farmers and small and micro entrepreneurs (MSMEs) on the Mayani platform.
The National Food Fair will be open to consumers from June to September 2021. The event, organized by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), is part of the government’s efforts to revitalize the agriculture sector and help create opportunities for farmers and agriculture-based entrepreneurs nationwide.
“Our partnership with Mayani will help boost the livelihood of many farmers and entrepreneurs. We know that the agricultural sector was severely affected by the pandemic and due to movement restrictions, farmers were not able to sell directly to markets and consumers as they had before. Through digital platforms to sell their produce and the ability to offer cashless payments, they can reach a wide consumer base for their products and find sales opportunities that will help their businesses bounce back. Grab fully supports the socio-economic recovery efforts enabled by Mayani and the DTI that benefit our farmers and MSMEs,” says Erwin Yamsuan, Country Lead for Grab Financial Group Philippines.
Mayani Co-Founder and CEO JT Solis underscored the importance of connecting rural farmers and MSMEs to the broader digital economy. “Now, more than ever, we must help our agriculture sector adapt to digital innovations so they can continue doing business, remain competitive, and strengthen their operations. We also welcome the support from and emergence of digital payment methods such as GrabPay, because it allows our agro-based entrepreneurs to directly transact with their customers.”
For its part, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) acknowledged the value of digital platforms in helping Filipino entrepreneurs.
“At DTI, we always encourage more sectors and companies, including digital services and apps, to leverage their technology to support the needs of the agricultural sector. We partnered with Mayani and GrabPay to provide that necessary boost for thousands of our Cordillera Administrative Region upland farmers and indigenous peoples organizations to move massive volumes of their commodities and fresh produce through e-commerce,” said DTI – Bureau of Domestic Trade Promotion Director Marievic Bonoan.
Through this team-up with Mayani and GrabPay, DTI will also be able to bolster market enabling conditions for the upland agri-communities of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Integrated Natural Resource and Environmental Management Project (INREMP) – Livelihood Enhancement Support 2 funded by the Asian Development Bank.
Unlocking the potential of agri-tech with Grab
With over 12,000 smallholder farmers on board, Mayani is the country’s fastest growing e-commerce platform, particularly in the agri-tech space. It has already secured over 10,000 retail customers and solid commercial partners like Shell, WalterMart Supermarket, UCC Group, Healthy Options, Amici, and Cara Mia, among others.
The partnership is a continuation of the collaboration among Grab, DTI, and Mayani which began in 2020 to promote agricultural produce available on Mayani through in-app promotion, social media push and online and offline marketing to help raise public awareness and increase sales for farmers and entrepreneurs.
By becoming the official payment partner of Mayani for the National Food Fair, Grab aims to encourage more people to realize the benefits of cashless payments and encourage digitalization as part of the country’s journey towards socio-economic recovery.
Bringing digitalization to consumers
Through the partnership, consumers who participate in the National Food Fair and purchase from Mayani will be able to pay with their GrabPay wallet. With GrabPay, consumers are guaranteed free instant cash-in and cash-out transactions and can reap additional benefits through GrabRewards points they can use later.
Consumers can use GrabPay to purchase a wide range of products from Mayani, such as fresh fruit and vegetables; frozen fish and meat; coffee beans; and local gourmet goods. With every purchase on Mayani, customers are directly helping local farmers and supporting their families and livelihoods.
The National Food Fair is an initiative of the Department of Trade and Industry to support local MSMEs by partnering with e-commerce platforms Shopee, Lazada, and Mayani to bring local, homegrown food products to Filipinos. Running from June to September, the National Food Fair will be available online, while a physical fair will also take place in September. Interested consumers may check out Mayani’s June run, which will be taking place from June 9-16, 2021.
For more details about making cashless transactions with GrabPay, you may check out https://www.grab.com/ph/pay/. You may also visit your Grab app to know more about Mayani and its offers.
