![\"\"](\"http:\/\/base.binus.ac.id\/business-engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/val-at-grab-640x853.jpeg\")
What I initially thought would mainly be about creating strategies turned out to be a much broader experience. It involved data analysis, business performance monitoring, project management, reporting, coordination with different teams, KPI development, and, perhaps most importantly, learning how all these pieces come together to support real business decisions.<\/p>\n
And honestly, that was one of the things I enjoyed most about the experience.<\/p>\n
From Numbers to Business Decisions<\/h1>\n
My internship mostly involved working with data. At first, looking at business metrics can feel like looking at a collection of numbers on a screen. But as I became more involved, I started to understand that the numbers are connected.<\/p>\n
A change in one metric can be related to something happening somewhere else in the business.
\nA report is not simply a document. A tracker is not simply a spreadsheet.
\nThe information we put together can become the basis for deciding what needs to be reviewed, what actions should be taken, and where the business should focus next.
\nThis taught me to look at data differently.<\/p>\n
I learned to question numbers instead of simply accepting them, understand how different metrics are interconnected, identify areas of business performance that need attention, and translate findings into action items. I also learned that being able to analyze data is only one part of the process. The more important question is often, \"So,\u00a0what do we do with this information?\u201d<\/strong> It also made me much more careful with details. When working with business data, a small mistake in a report can affect the analysis that follows it and potentially influence the next steps. Because of this, I learned to be more disciplined in checking the data I worked with and making sure that the information being used was accurate.<\/p>\n One of the biggest experiences I have had during my internship is to be involved in the development of Kios Ads, a new vertical within the GrabKios ecosystem.<\/p>\n What made this project especially meaningful to me was the opportunity to be involved while it was still being developed. I was not simply handed an established process and asked to maintain it. Instead, I helped turn the idea into something operational by developing trackers, workflows, monitoring mechanisms, and supporting documents that allowed the different teams involved to work with a clearer process.<\/p>\n Of course, I did not build everything alone. Kios Ads involved people with different areas of expertise, and working with them taught me how important cross-functional collaboration is. There were many things I had to learn from people who knew their respective areas better than I did. Yet, at the same time, I was also given room to explore and contribute my own ideas.<\/p>\n Being able to create something from scratch has become one of my favorite parts of the internship. There is a different feeling when you work on something and eventually see it become part of an actual business process. It made me feel that I was not simply completing an internship assignment. I was contributing to something that the team was genuinely building.<\/p>\n It was also where I experienced what ownership really meant. This internship made me realize that the things I had learned at university were not just concepts that would stay inside lecture slides and assignments. As a business engineering student, I have been exposed to different areas such as data analysis, business processes, project management, process improvement, problem-solving, and technology. At university, these topics can sometimes feel like separate subjects. During my internship, however, I started seeing how closely they are connected in an actual business environment.<\/p>\n For example, working with business data required me to use the analytical skills I had developed through my studies. Understanding business performance meant looking beyond individual numbers and trying to understand how different parts of the business were connected. Suddenly, things that I had previously learned as theories had a real purpose. At the same time, the internship also showed me that knowing the theory is only the beginning. Real business situations are rarely as neat as the examples we encounter in class. There are changing requirements, incomplete information, different stakeholder perspectives, unexpected problems, and decisions that need to be made even when there is no perfect answer. Now, let's put aside the formal work and all the things I did at work. This was my university life...<\/strong><\/p>\n And this was the formal, official part of my work life... Joining meetings, being assigned tasks, presenting during meetings and cadences, receiving requests from other teams, and seeing my work contribute to business activities all made that very clear.<\/p>\n At university, if I procrastinated on an assignment, the consequences were usually between me and my deadline. I may be given a specific deadline, and I could do my assignment when I felt like doing it. I simply had to make sure that my work was completed before the deadline, even if it was just the night before.<\/p>\n At work, it is a little different. These experiences taught me a stronger sense of ownership and responsibility. They also helped me become more aware of how my work fits into a larger process. What I do may be only one small part of a project, but that small part can still matter to someone else's work.<\/p>\n At the same time, working at Grab also changed some of my expectations about what professional life would look like. Of course, that flexibility came with trust. And being trusted to manage my own responsibilities was another important lesson in becoming more independent.<\/p>\n Of course, an internship is not only about the work. The people I work with have played a huge part in making this experience enjoyable.<\/p>\n My team has been incredibly supportive throughout my internship. They have guided me when I needed help, involved me in meetings, trusted me with responsibilities, and given me opportunities to explore ideas of my own. They are also open to discussions and suggestions, which made it easier for me to ask questions and share my thoughts. I have also had the opportunity to interact with people outside my immediate team. Strategy & planning naturally involves working with different functions, so communication became an important part of my daily experience.<\/p>\n I had to learn how to communicate with people who had different roles, priorities, and areas of expertise. These interactions taught me that being good at your work is not enough. You also need to know how to work with people. Same goes with my fellow interns... They are the ones who have been with me since my day one here at Grab. Though we belong to different functions, we somehow still end up becoming each other's support system.<\/p>\n Additionally, my internship experience has also included various intern activities, training sessions, team bonding, town halls, presentations, meetings, networking opportunities, and visits. These experiences made the internship feel like more than simply coming to work and completing tasks. There was always something new happening, and that made the experience feel dynamic.<\/p>\n If most of my internship taught me to understand Grab through data, strategy, and business operations, one experience allowed me to see the other side of the business. On Tuesday, 21 April 2026, we gathered at the Grab Driver Center in Cilandak for a hands-on experience where interns could step into the shoes of a GrabFood driver-partner. After a short briefing, we were each lent a Grab jacket and helmet, then each of us was paired with a driver-partner. Afterwards, we went out on the road.<\/p>\n For the next couple of hours, I accompanied my assigned driver-partner as he accepted and completed real customer orders. It was a very different experience from sitting in front of a laptop and looking at business performance through a dashboard.<\/p>\n One of the things that stayed with me most was the driver-partner I was paired with. He had this very warm, father-like personality. From the moment we met, he welcomed me like we were not complete strangers meeting for the first time. Throughout the experience, he looked after me kindly, making sure I was comfortable and sharing stories about his life along the way. He was optimistic, fun to talk to, and super wise. Our conversations went far beyond deliveries. He shared stories about his daily life, his experiences as a driver-partner, and even gave me advice about life. It was one of those conversations that you do not expect to have, especially with someone you have just met, but somehow end up remembering.<\/p>\n Another thing that paid attention to was how orders were not necessarily coming in continuously. Of course, there are a huge number of orders every day, but there are also many driver-partners on the road. This meant there were moments when we simply had to wait for the next order. It was a small observation, but experiencing it firsthand made me think differently about what a driver-partner's day can actually look like. Behind the completed orders that we see as customers, there can also be waiting, uncertainty, time spent on the road, and many other realities that are not visible from the app.<\/p>\n The Immersion Program gave me a lesson that I could not have learned from a spreadsheet.<\/p>\n During my internship, I work with data, business performance, KPIs, and operational information. These are important because they help us understand what is happening in the business and decide what should happen next. But after spending a day on the road, I became more conscious of what happens beyond those numbers.<\/p>\n Behind every metric are people. This made me more aware of the responsibility that comes with making business decisions. We naturally want to make decisions that improve business performance. But the experience reminded me that improving a business should not mean forgetting the people who make that business possible.<\/p>\n I guess it\u2019s true that sometimes, the best way to understand the impact of a decision is to step outside the office and see things from the perspective of the people experiencing it.<\/p>\n One of the more meaningful moments of my internship was presenting my internship final report, \u201cDevelopment and Operationalization of Kios Ads DAX Attributes at PT. Grab Teknologi Indonesia.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Preparing for the presentation made me stop and look back at everything I had worked on. Presenting the work also gave me a different perspective. It was not just about explaining what I had done. I had to explain why it mattered, how the different pieces connected, and what I had learned throughout the process. And somehow, that made the internship feel even more real. It's like... \"I'm really interning at a real company,\"<\/em> making changes and bringing impact to the business that will later reflect on the business's performance. It's the moment when you get to think, \"Wow, I really did that! That was really my work and contributions... And what I did was actually meaningful...\"<\/em><\/p>\n Looking back at my experience so far, I think the biggest lesson is that I came into Grab expecting to learn about business strategy, but I ended up learning much more about how a business actually works.<\/p>\n I learned how to look at data and understand the story behind it. Data analysis is not just about getting the right answer. Sometimes, you need to understand the data before you can identify the problem. That is probably what has changed the most for me. Now, I see it differently. I am already using it.<\/p>\n And at the same time, working has shown me that there is still so much more to learn beyond what can be taught in a classroom.<\/p>\n I came to Grab wanting professional experience. Along the way, I found opportunities to explore, create, analyze, communicate, make mistakes, meet wonderful people, and experience the business from perspectives I would never have seen from a desk alone. I learned what it feels like to be trusted with something that other people depend on. I learned how rewarding it can be to build something from scratch. I learned that work can be challenging without always feeling rigid and that having good people around you can make a huge difference.<\/p>\n And through Immersion Day, I learned something that I think I will carry with me for a long time: So perhaps the biggest thing this internship has taught me is not simply how to work. It has taught me how to think about work, to look at the numbers, understand the business, consider the people, and ask what can actually be done with what I know. And I think that is something I will carry with me long after this internship is over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Before starting my internship at Grab, I had a fairly simple idea of what strategy & planning would look like. I imagined myself working on business strategies, creating plans for how the company could grow, and figuring out what the business should do next. In my head, it sounded quite similar to business development. After […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":1894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"featured_image":{"phone":"https:\/\/base.binus.ac.id\/business-engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/val-at-grab-e1786517732566-480x431.jpeg","tablet":"https:\/\/base.binus.ac.id\/business-engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/val-at-grab-e1786517732566-768x689.jpeg"},"yoast_head":"\n
\nThat question became something I encountered repeatedly throughout my internship.<\/p>\nBuilding Something from Scratch<\/h1>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/base.binus.ac.id\/business-engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/kios-ads-640x394.png\")
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/base.binus.ac.id\/business-engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/dummy-640x307.png\")
\nWhen people started asking me about trackers, documents, or information that I was responsible for, there was a small moment of realization: people actually depend on my work.<\/strong>
\nThat was probably one of the moments when the internship started to feel very real.<\/p>\nTurning What I Learned Into Real Work<\/h1>\n
\nCreating trackers and workflows required me to think about processes and how information should move from one point to another.
\nWorking on Kios Ads also involved project management, stakeholder coordination, documentation, problem-solving, and continuous improvement.<\/p>\n
\nI was no longer asking, \u201cWhen am I ever going to use this?\u201d<\/em>
\nI was actually using it.<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nThat was where I learned to combine what I already knew with what I was experiencing.<\/p>\n\u201cOkay, I\u2019m Actually Working Now.\"<\/h1>\n
\nI also want to share a bit about the reality of transitioning from being a student to becoming a part of the working group.
\nTo be frank, transitioning to work life has been quite a journey. Every now and then, there were plenty of little moments that reminded me that I was no longer just completing university assignments.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/base.binus.ac.id\/business-engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/univ-640x480.jpg\")
\n<\/strong>(outside the little rendezvous after work)<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/base.binus.ac.id\/business-engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/official-worklife-640x275.png\")
\nIf someone is waiting for a tracker, a report, an analysis, or a confirmation from me, I cannot simply think, \u201cI'll do it later.\u201d<\/em>
\nWell... I can think that way, but I just can't actually do it later.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nI had imagined work life as a fairly strict 9-to-5 environment, where everyone is expected to be in the same place and follow the same routine. My experience has been quite different. The working environment has given us flexibility in where we work, as long as we remain responsible for our work, attend the necessary meetings, and complete what we are assigned.<\/p>\nThe People Who Made the Experience What It Is<\/h1>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/base.binus.ac.id\/business-engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/val-and-her-people-at-work-640x414.png\")
\nSometimes that meant asking questions.
\nSometimes it meant clarifying information.
\nSometimes it meant presenting something I had worked on and being ready to receive feedback.<\/p>\n
\nAnd honestly, having kind and supportive people around you makes a huge difference.<\/p>\nStepping Outside the Office<\/h1>\n
\nThat was the Immersion Program.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/base.binus.ac.id\/business-engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/immersion-640x206.png\")
Seeing the People Behind the Numbers<\/h1>\n
\nBehind an operational change are people who have to adapt to it.
\nBehind a business decision are people whose daily work can be affected by it.
\nAnd behind the platform itself are driver-partners, merchants, customers, and many others who experience the business in ways that we may not always see from inside the office.<\/p>\nLooking Back at How Far I've Come<\/h1>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/base.binus.ac.id\/business-engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/vals-sem-6-report-640x429.png\")
\nWhen I was working on individual trackers, documents, reports, meetings, and project tasks, I did not always think about how they would eventually come together. I was simply focused on getting the next thing done.
\nBut putting everything into one report made me realize how much I had actually experienced and learned.
\nI could see the progression from learning how the business worked to understanding the data to taking responsibility for different tasks and eventually contributing to the operationalization of a new business vertical.<\/p>\nWhat This Internship Has Taught Me<\/h1>\n
\nI learned how to turn analysis into action.
\nI learned how to communicate with people from different functions, pay closer attention to details, adapt to changes, and take ownership of work that others depend on.
\nI also learned that the things I study at university have a place in the real world.<\/p>\n
\nProject management is not just about making a timeline.
\nProcess improvement is not just about drawing a better process.
\nAnd business strategy is not just about coming up with a good idea.
\nIn the real world, all of these things come together.<\/p>\n
\nThen you need to understand the process behind it, coordinate with the people involved, figure out what can realistically be changed, and turn the analysis into an action that actually works.
\nAnd even after all of that, you still have to consider the people who will be affected by the decision.<\/p>\n
\nI used to think of university knowledge as something I was preparing to use one day when I started working.<\/p>\n
\nBehind every business decision, there are people who experience its impact.<\/strong><\/p>\n