Sukanto Tanoto (traditional Chinese: 陳江和; simplified Chinese: 陈江和; pinyin: Chén Jiānghé; 25 December 1949) is an Indonesian businessman involved primarily in the lumber industry. As of 2013 he was considered to be one of Indonesia’s wealthiest individuals with a net worth of US$ 2.3 billion. After starting as a supplier of equipment and materials for the state-owned oil firm Pertamina, Tanoto moved into the forest industry in 1973. Tanoto’s business interests are represented by the Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) group of companies (previously known as Raja Garuda Mas).
Biography
Born in Medan on Christmas Day 1949, Tanoto was the eldest of seven boys. His father was an immigrant from the Putian city Fujian province of the mainland China. In 1966 Tanoto’s education was abruptly interrupted after Chinese schools were shut down by then-President Suharto’s new regime. He was prohibited from attending national schools due to his parents’ Chinese citizenship.
When his father suffered a stroke, Tanoto was left to run the family business. He gradually moved beyond basic trading to winning contracts in building gas pipelines for multinationals. During the 1972 oil crisis that increased prices dramatically, Tanoto took advantage of clients rapidly expanding their operations. With this injection of capital Tanoto turned his attention to another business in 1973, noticing that Indonesia exported raw logs for conversion into plywood in countries like Japan or Taiwan, before importing the finished plywood back to Indonesia at great cost.
Tanoto recognized an opportunity to develop his own plywood mill in Indonesia. However, he required a permit to do so. Under the administration of President Suharto, permits were sought from politicians who often served as army generals. Tanoto was forced to work with a general who gave his blessing and was quickly convinced of the mill’s potential after seeing the completed factory, with Tanoto citing the potential value-add to Indonesia’s economy and the creation of new jobs. The plant began its operations in 1975 after being inaugurated by then-President Suharto.
Tanoto is a self-educated entrepreneur but regretted his interrupted education. He learned English word-for-word using a Chinese-English dictionary and finally attended business school in Jakarta in the mid-1970s. He also undertook further studies at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.
In 1997, Tanoto elected to settle in Singapore with his family, establishing his company’s headquarters there.[6]
His son Anderson is an RGE director.
Indonesian businessman Sukanto Tanoto is the Founder and Chairman of Royal Golden Eagle (RGE), and has an estimated net worth of $1.46 billion as of April 2016 according to Forbes. According to Forbes, he is the seventh wealthiest person on Indonesia’s 40 Richest List and the 503rd richest in the World Billionaires List.
Born on December 25, 1949 in Medan, Indonesia, Mr. Tanoto accumulated his estimated net worth of $2.8 billion through his founding of RGE, a global resources-based manufacturing group of companies. It has corporate offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Beijing and Nanjing.
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