
Abhinav joined Uber to make an impact in communities across EMEA and world
27 July 2023 / Global
From non-profits to international organizations, Abhinav has always worked to bring people together. With Uber’s scale and the ability to positively impact communities, he was convinced to join in 2019 and is now a leader on our EMEA Social Impact team.
Tell us about yourself.
“I’ve been with Uber’s Social Impact team for four years, and am based in Washington, D.C. Social Impact is focused on using Uber’s technology to move people and deliver things globally in communities in need.”
Tell us about your career journey and what drew you to social impact? Why did you join the social impact team at Uber?
“My career, like most, has not followed a straight line. I started out in the consulting industry and then with a public policy graduate degree, I set out to work in international development in a number of nonprofit and international organizations. A large part of my work focused on bringing government reformers and community nonprofit advocates together to create effective policy that reduces corruption and improves public services like health and education. However, scaling good ideas was always a challenge. I wanted to use that experience of working on cross-sectoral partnerships to solve big problems. The idea of tackling those issues at a company with the technology and resources to do it at scale with a brand that’s embedded in communities and culture was compelling, which brought me to Uber.”
How can we use the Uber platform for good in ways no other company can?
“Uber operates in the physical world at an incredible scale. We’re helping to move people and things by the millions every single day around the world. It’s really exciting to think how we can use that to do good for people and communities that are cut off from opportunity or live in transportation, food, or health deserts. Uber’s mobility and delivery platforms can be a bridge to help communities access services and things they need to stay safe, healthy, and thrive.”
What are some key social impact initiatives from your team in EMEA?
“Uber has shown up for communities in many different ways across EMEA. In the early days of the pandemic when cities were locked down, Uber helped facilitate the delivery of food, medicine, and other essential items to vulnerable people and helped move frontline health workers through the Move What Matters initiative. When vaccines became available, Uber stepped up to make sure the lack of transportation was never a barrier to get the shot and the company committed to covering the cost of 10 million free rides to get people to vaccination sites. When war struck Ukraine, we quickly mobilized to help move refugees and displaced families to safety and provide access to transportation to frontline health and humanitarian workers. We used our tech to help move food and emergency winter supplies within Ukraine in partnership with UN humanitarian agencies. We’ve helped secure countless cultural artifacts from damage in the war.”
Uber is constantly at the forefront of providing assistance to areas affected by war or natural disasters. Could you delve deeper into how the process of providing aid is managed from the disaster up to help being delivered?
“Uber has the ability to support moving people to safety or get them essential supplies and services in disasters to help with rescue, relief, and recovery. When disaster strikes, we work with local authorities and humanitarian aid NGO partners to understand the impact of the disaster, assess the affected community’s needs, and determine how we can help using our core mobility and delivery offerings. For example, we’ve provided access to rides to safety shelters, meals to first responders, helped move essential supplies like water, food, PPE to communities in need, and raised money via our app for humanitarian organizations.
In 2022 alone we responded to 14 disasters worldwide, including the war in Ukraine, Hurricane Ian in Florida, floods in Bangladesh and Pakistan, and COVID in Hong Kong. Through these actions, Uber covered the cost of around 300,000 rides and supported moving 1.5 million pounds of food, water, and essential supplies for community rescue, relief, and recovery in 2022.”
Posted by Charlotte Lim
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