Sukanto Tanoto on Teachers and Top Students in Riau

Many top students with extraordinary capabilities and skills come from underprivileged areas, and they do not get much chance to learn under the best condition. SukantoTanoto, Indonesian self-made billionaire, has really high view about education and feels that such condition is unfair. While these students are probably able to come on top position in class, they are probably unable to learn under the best condition with best facilities.

On top of those, these students probably cannot get opportunities to learn with teachers that really understand what they need, and able to explore their best. Through Tanoto Foundation, the billionaire wants to make sure that more potential students can learn under good teachers.

Teaching Teachers to Recognize Students’ Potentials

Good teachers can recognize students’ best potentials and teach to give advantages to top students, so they can feel that their capabilities and potentials are recognized. Even in remote or underprivileged areas, good teachers can help top students to explore their skills and become successful in the future. This can be done by making sure that teachers recognize visual, kinesthetic and auditory aspects in intelligence and then teaching by focusing on these aspects in order to recognize students’ potentials.

Basically, each student has certain lean toward intelligence aspects such as auditory, kinesthetic, visual, or some overlapping combinations. By recognizing those aspects, especially among top students, teachers can engage them in more challenging and rewarding lessons. In Indonesia, the training has been done to teachers in Pelalawan District in Riau, mostly for elementary school teachers (although there are middle school teachers involved), and similar plans are made to spread this beneficial project to other areas.

Teaching Methods to Engage Top Students

Ideally, a teacher should engage his or her students in various teaching methods, to make sure that the lessons cover all intelligence aspects. For example, teachers can apply methods like playing videos or teaching with songs for auditory learning, role playing and experiments for kinesthetic learning, and observation or creative writing for visual learning. Unfortunately, even when knowing these methods, there are still many teachers that cannot do these methods because they are lack of facilities.

This is why, besides training teacher, Tanoto Foundation also provides learning facilities for schools, so teachers can use them to provide potential students with more challenging and engaging learning experiences. Sukanto Tanoto aims to provide as many students as possible with high quality teachers and learning atmosphere, especially to facilitate potential students who need extra challenges and attention for their achievements.

Why Sukanto Tanoto Thinks Library is Management Important

A good school must have a good library and encourage the students to read more. SukantoTanoto is the owner of RGE Group and Tanoto Foundation that has built many schools and libraries in Indonesia, China and Tibet. The libraries came with well-stocked book supplies and additional media, to make sure that the students can learn like they who study at schools with more budgets. However, having only the library is not enough; teachers at such schools must know how to manage them.

Library Management and Activity Training

Teachers who know good library management can take care of the facility better, and use it to help students achieving learning goals better. Tanoto Foundation has provided several library management trainings for teachers, making sure that the libraries are well-used and actually beneficial. The library management and activity training involve:

·         Learning how to take care of library and its facilities, to ensure long usage period.

·         Learning how to use the books as parts of the class teaching, to broaden the students’ knowledge and insight, not just from the mandatory textbooks.

·         Learning how to create class activities that center around the library, such as storytelling, role playing, and fun discussion, so the teachers and students can become active library users, not just visiting it once awhile.

·         Learning how to use different library facilities such as role playing tools, posters, and educational toys or dolls to increase attention level and encourage creative thinking.

However, simply training the teachers is not enough; Tanoto Foundation also keeps updating the condition and supplies of the existing libraries, making sure that the teachers can be more active in their teaching process.

Library Updating and Supplying

Tanoto Foundation did not stop after building libraries; the foundation also strives to make sure that the libraries are well-stocked and updated with the most current ideal-for-school books beside textbooks. Therefore, the foundation set up a funding program to encourage donation to buy more books for the existing and soon-to-be-built libraries. The funding will also be used to buy other facilities and media that can be placed in the libraries, such as posters, educational games, role playing dolls, drawing books and tools, and even audiovisual educational tool.

A good library is the source of learning for many students; Sukanto Tanoto, an avid reader himself, wants to make sure that school students can learn optimally from their school facilities, even the ones located in underprivileged areas.

Sukanto Tanoto’s 3 Keys to be Successful Business Owner

Being an entrepreneur is never easy, but those who are successful usually have what it takes to beat all challenges and impediments that come their ways. SukantoTanoto, the owner of RGE Group and Tanoto Foundation, paved his way to success from a small family business, and he did not even his formal school during teenage years. According to him, his success was inspired by his father’s 3 wisdoms to achieve success in business, and he always shares these success keys in many events.

Entrepreneurship Secrets for New and Old Business Owners

Tanoto’s keys of entrepreneurship success can be applied by both new and old business owners, in order to start, develop, and keep their businesses successfully. Here are his 3 wisdoms for all business owners out there:

·         Prepare to do business for survival. New business owners and they who already have growing businesses should expect to do business for survival; it can be because of sudden impediments, financial difficulties, bad business climate, growing competitions, and external factors such as inflation or monetary crisis. They must be ready to face these things anytime, and stay focus on the future goals.

·         Do business for growth. Do not just think about keeping the business afloat and ‘safe.’ Good entrepreneurs must know how to grow and develop their businesses, such as with innovation, new marketing initiatives, product developing, and many more. This will lead to bigger and better business, and it will not be stagnant.

·         Do business to open more opportunities. After the business has been quite stable with constant growth, a good entrepreneur must take chance to find new opportunities. It can be new business, new product types, new partnership; anything that can lead to the opening of new things the business owners never do or experience. This is the thing that makes the difference between successful, national/international businesses and small businesses that never try to expand or try new opportunities.

However, in order to do all those things, entrepreneurs must also remember to weigh all risks and possibilities. This is important to stay in track and be ready to face any obstacles.

Growing up without being able to continue his formal education, and saddled with responsibilities to handle small family business, Sukanto Tanoto has successfully applied the 3 wisdoms his father gave, and he hopes that new generations of entrepreneurs can do the same with their businesses and achieve success.

Sukanto Tanoto Supported E-Business Development in Indonesia

As the owner of multinational corporation RGE Group, Sukanto Tanoto always welcomes positive growth in business world that will encourage better economic climate in Indonesia. His support is shown through his activities through Tanoto Foundation that focus on youth education and empowerment, especially since new generations are those who ware quick in adopting new trend and technology. Entrepreneurs that depend on modern technology, or ‘techpreneur,’ have become growing forces in the world of Indonesian business.

Partnership Program with Renowned Universities

Entrepreneurship using technology is a way to create interest in business between new generations, and with the popularity of internet and social media, it should be easier for new generations to start a business. Tanoto aimed to bring inspirations to the youth by organizing partnership program with some renowned universities such as Indonesian University (UI) and Gadjah Mada University (UGM), to hold seminars, exhibitions and public classes about entrepreneurship and technology in business.

For example, in 2013, his foundation conducted Tanoto Entrepreneurship Series program at Magister Management of Economic Faculty in UI, which were series of seminars emphasizing the importance of entrepreneurship as a tool to support economic climate and create more work opportunities for people. In this seminar, his foundation invited notable keynote speakers that have been successful as entrepreneurs, such as manufacturing business owners, design studio owners, and many more.

In this case, the foundation invited Anne Avantie, a fashion designer, and Martin Basuki Hartono, Director of Business Technology from Djarum Group.

Why Technopreneurship Important for Economic Climate

Entrepreneurship is important to encourage local and national economy, and it is said that a country needs at least 2% of entrepreneurships out of the whole population to ensure successful economic climate based on local communities. Unfortunately, many Indonesian youths still think that being an entrepreneurship is something dreadful and viewed as difficult. Entrepreneurship series programs aim to reduce that negative view and encourage more youths to be entrepreneurs.

Advanced technology and internet have helped many young entrepreneurs to start business with fewer hassles. For example, even with the least capital, someone can open an online store and sells trinkets, and then develop the business from there instead of spending time and money finding places to put the goods, displays, and many more. Internet and social media also help with low cost promotions and marketing.

Sukanto Tanoto himself is a self-made billionaire, an entrepreneur who started his business from really humble beginning. With his program, he hoped to grow interests among the youth to start being entrepreneurs.