In almost a decade since its inception, Singapore’s ride-hailing firm Ryde Technologies has grown to a comfortable size and is a known home brand.
Founded in September 2014, Ryde is available in Singapore, with a presence in Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Australia. It offers carpooling, ride-hailing, and quick commerce services.
A difference between this ride-hailing firm compared with its competitors is that it takes a more organic approach to expand its company, and not the more aggressive strategies of its competitors, (e.g. Tada, Gojek, Grab) who are gunning for dominance of market share.
For one, it takes a percentage cut from drivers that is said to be lower than its competitors – a low commission rate of 10%. It also relies heavily on word of mouth, with 70% of Ryde’s users from referrals.
In the near future, Ryde has plans to internationalise more into the region and to continue to explore adding new product lines to improve the user experience.
In this edition of 5 Questions With, we caught up with Terence Zou, the founder and CEO of Ryde to learn more about how he maintains a work-life balance as a founder of a busy ride-hailing company and how the company has adjusted to living with the pandemic. He also shares his love for driving and food.
Angela Teng (Angela): How is a day at work like, what do you do first when you wake up and how do you plan your day for a productive schedule?
Terence Zou (Terence): I get up early and head to the office. I usually come into the office before the rest of my team, the morning quietness allows me some time for contemplation, to catch up on my emails and the news. My days are broken up into distinct parts for me to attend different types of meetings throughout the day. Morning — key meetings internally; afternoon — meetings/coffee chats with investors, suppliers, and potential partners for collaboration; evening — further dinner meetings and/or spending time with my family.
I also set aside time to drive as a private-hire driver once in a while. This allows me to feel the business side of things and experience the product better. Through these hours of driving, it allows me to understand our drivers better, gather the sentiments of passengers, and seek to continually improve the UX/UI of our app.
I enjoy driving as it gives me the opportunity to go around Singapore and see the newest developments happening in our country (far-flung BTO flats being built, new estates being established, new night spots blossoming, and new commercial buildings sprouting up too). Being a private-hire driver is not easy. You have to put in many gruelling hours daily. I’ve gained a lot of insights personally, and my perspective on life has changed after putting myself in their shoes.
Angela: Any food haunts and favourite food you have discovered through your journey with the ride-hailing company?
Terence: As a private hire driver, I also get to explore new food places in Singapore and sometimes, I will also review them and share some of my thoughts on social media (eg. here and here).
You can also find some of my food review videos on my TikTok account here: https://www.tiktok.com/@terencezou17
Angela: How do you juggle work and life, can you share more about how you spend time with your family and children even with a busy work schedule?
Terence: I have a daughter and I ensure that I set aside time for us to go for jogs and meals together regularly. It is very important for me to spend quality time with her.
I find that you can never separate work and life as an entrepreneur running a business. It’s not so much of a “balance”, but work-life harmony. I am always thinking about work, whether it is reflecting on what works for the company, what the competition is like, or new business ideas.
Angela: Do you do charity work and ESG initiatives personally and do you think it helps you as a founder to take on such initiatives on a personal level?
Terence: Giving back to the community through ESG initiatives is something we have continuously supported in the ways that we are able to. One example is the Ryde Education Merit Awards, a merit-based incentive that provides cash prizes and technological resources to children of Driver-partners who have demonstrated impressive academic and extracurricular achievements.
On a company-wide initiative, we do our best to have meals and engagement sessions with our drivers every once in a while. Our most recent event, #MakanwithRyde, was held in late March this year where we gave away free nasi lemak packets to our driver-partners. Almost the entire company is mobilised during these events, and encouraged to play their part. It is through projects like this that we recognise the contributions and hard work of our driver-partner community and their families as the driving force behind the success of Ryde.
Angela: How has Ryde adjusted since post-pandemic? What is the main challenge for your business and have you gained any insights or new experiences in this period?
Terence: When the pandemic started, the economy took a downturn and many households reduced their discretionary spending. Social distancing measures also led to most people staying at home, which meant that our ride-hailing demand definitely decreased.
However, Ryde saw tremendous growth in demand for quick commerce during the pandemic. The most prominent growth we saw was in RydeSEND as people were ordering food delivery more.
Post-pandemic, we’ve learned to take on the mindset that we shouldn’t be complacent and that we should always be ready for adversities that may come our way. We have many takeaways, especially in operational readiness, having gone through the uncertainties that came with the pandemic.
Life has adjusted back to normal for most of us here at Ryde, and in fact, due to us being more operationally ready than before, we’ve also started to hire remote staff that range from developers to customer support. With the re-opening of offices and most activities, people are mostly going back to work or going out – this has enabled our ride-hailing demand to recover.
Featured Image Credit: Ryde
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