TanHooiLing

Southeast Asia’s largest super app, Grab, was partly seeded in Tan Hooi Ling’s own frustrations with riding taxis. As a management consultant working long hours, she said, the safety concerns of hailing a ride at night were stress inducing. Originally from Malaysia, Tan studied mechanical engineering and, after three years consulting with McKinsey, embarked on an MBA at Harvard Business School, where she met Anthony Tan, her eventual Grab co-founder. The two would win a grant from the school’s 2011 New Venture Competition. Tan Hooi Ling moved to Singapore in 2014 to support the company’s expansion to new markets, eventually settling in the main roles of COO and head of product. After a rocky IPO in December, investors’ expectations are for leadership, Tan included, to set the company on a steadier, profit-bound course.