Grab Asenso Brings Merchant AI, Cashless Tools to Baguio’s MSMEs, Backing the City’s Smart-City Roadmap
By: Dave Leprozo, Jr., photos courtesy of Grab Asenso
BAGUIO CITY, 10 OCTOBER 2025 – Grab Philippines brings its Asenso Learning Caravan to Baguio City, equipping micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with AI-powered tools, cashless payments, and practical digital skills that align with the city’s Smart City priorities: data-driven policymaking, tourism technology, and city-wide digital readiness.
Grab Asenso, Grab’s flagship public-private initiative, maps directly to cities’ digitalization priorities, including Baguio’s. The program upskills small businesses in digital-first marketing and AI, while introducing mobile-first tools that make it easy for entrepreneurs to upgrade and scale their operations – from accepting cashless payments to listing on discovery and delivery channels – without heavy capex or technical lift.
“Digital readiness is prosperity policy,” said Grab Philippines Deputy Head for Cities Paula Catanghal. “Baguio understands that when a humble eatery, a pasalubong shop, or a home kitchen can accept tap-&-scan-to-pay, run promotions with an AI co-pilot, and digest basic demand data, policy converts into paydays. With Grab Asenso, we’re helping translate the City’s smart-city vision into everyday capability for thousands of entrepreneurs.”
DICT Assistant Division Chief Jeehad Tanggol, in a keynote address delivered on behalf of DICT Secretary Henry Aguda, underscored how “Grab Asenso is a powerful display of Digital Bayanihan, a modern-day take on our cherished tradition of community cooperation.” He adds, “The DICT and our valued private sector partners, like Grab, have come together to bridge the digital divide and bring opportunities directly to your doorstep. This isn’t just about government programs; it’s about a united front, a collective effort to uplift every Filipino MSME. This learning caravan is in line with the DICT’s Trabahong Digital Program, a bold and ambitious national vision to create 8 million digital and digitally-enabled jobs.”
Grab’s Long Game: Powering MSME Growth Through Digital Enablement
GrabFood launched in Baguio in 2020, giving local MSMEs a digital path through the pandemic and beyond. Since then, the platform has recorded year-on-year growth in onboarded MSME merchant-partners. This proves how the city’s small enterprises are fast adapting to digital commerce.
GrabFood merchant-partners currently leverage the following for their sustainable growth: Actionable data to refine product mix, pricing, and promo strategy; Accessible financing through Merchant Quick Cash for working capital and expansion; and A highly active consumer base sustaining demand beyond tourism peaks.
Raff’s Fried Chicken House co-owners Rowena Ninalga and Anabelle Canaveral shared how GrabFood orders helped them grow a streetside eatery into multiple branches and scale their team from two to twenty. They also highlighted the impact of self-serve tools like Grab Spotlight Ads, which make on-platform marketing simple and affordable. “Spotlight Ads turned our sales from hopeful to intentional. We pushed seasonal bestsellers at the exact moment customers were ready to buy, and the results kept building week after week. That’s why we’re all in on Grab Asenso — because when the platform is this effective, growth becomes sustainable.”
This momentum underscores the growing need for mobile-first skills and tools — now reinforced by Merchant AI Assistant, Grab’s AI copilot for small businesses. The assistant helps entrepreneurs work faster and decide smarter by generating event-based promo strategies, automating menu setups, creating ready-to-post marketing content, and surfacing demand insights for smarter inventory and staffing.
Also at the heart of this digital shift is financial accessibility. Grab’s Tap & Scan to Pay, which is a mobile-first payment solution supporting both card tap and QR transactions, democratizes cashless payments for micro and small businesses once locked out of formal financial systems. Beyond access, Grab also provides Income Protection Coverage to merchants utilizing this payment channel, offering a safety net that cushions small business owners against unexpected disruptions in operations or earnings. Together, these initiatives build financial confidence and resilience for MSMEs. Tap & Scan to Pay is officially launching in Baguio City in 2026.
“Baguio City is becoming the kickstarter of a bolder, more digitally ready Cordillera, as it embraces technology as the great equalizer for every small business owner ready to take the leap forward,” Catanghal adds.
