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Best known as one of Forbes’ richest Indonesians, Sukanto Tanoto is the successful owner of several big companies such as Asian Agri, Royal Golden Eagle International, and a foundation called Tanoto Foundation. Residing in Singapore, he is famous as a resilient businessman and investor, and he has extended his business to global investment in countries such as Philippine, Brazil, Singapore and China.

Early Life and Business of Sukanto Tanoto

Born in Belawan, North Sumatra on December 25th 1949, Sukanto Tanoto is the eldest of seven siblings. His father was a migrant from Fujian Province in China, who started trading business in Medan, and he passed on much of his business knowledge and skill to Sukanto. Sukanto Tanoto never finished his formal education due to the closing of Chinese public schools by Indonesian government during the early and mid 60’s for fear of spreading communist ideology. This prompted him to learn handling the family’s business, especially after his father became sick from overworking.

Sukanto Tanoto then developed his business when he finally moved to Medan, the capital city of North Sumatra.

Developing Business and Building Companies

After moving to Medan, Sukanto Tanoto developed his business from general trading to contractor and supplier business. He got his first big break when he got project from Pertamina official in Aceh to build and supply facilities for Pertamina employees, such as houses, tractor and golf court. In 1972, he expanded his business to plywood after the disappearance of imported plywood from Singapore in Indonesia. He became the first businessman who sold local plywood in Indonesian market (using the brand Polyplex) and later even exported his product to Middle East and European countries. He also changed his company name to PT Raja Garuda Mas (now becomes Royal Golden Eagle International).

He also built a pulp company called PT Inti Indorayon Utama, but later closed due to accusation of pollution it caused on Lake Toba. He did not give up and build another pulp company in year 1995, PT Riau Pulp, which is now famous as one of the biggest pulp companies in the world. He later developed his business to palm oil with PT Asian Agri, property with the project of Medan Thamrin Plaza, bank with Unibank, and even a Singaporean palm oil company called National Development Corporation Guthrie. Now, he resides in Singapore to better control his business.

Philanthropic Projects

Sukanto Tanoto has big concern in education, due to his own past when he was denied formal education. He built Tanoto Foundation, an organization that focuses on education, with programs such as scholarships, study grants for lecturers and teachers and research grants for professors. The organization has also helped building schools and supplying teaching equipment in remote or poor areas in Indonesia and China. Sukanto Tanoto also schedules annual trip to various business schools around the world such as Harvard and London School of Economics to study. He also had a library in Singapore named after him in 2005 after his generous donation.

Sukanto Tanoto married Tinah Bingei Tanoto, who now runs his foundation as a member of Board of Trustee, and they have four children: Andre Tanoto, Imelda Tanoto, Belinda Tanoto and Anderson Tanoto.