Sukanto Tanoto - 1997 Asian Financial Crisis
One of the most valuable lessons that Mr. Tanoto learned from the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis was the need for corporate social responsibility (CSR).
For example, Mr. Tanoto's pulp & paper company, Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL), has a well-planned CSR program and operates based on a simple motto - people, planet and profits. It is a member of the United Nations Global Compact, which promotes responsible corporate citizenship, the corporate partner of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Champions of the Earth Awards, and is also the only Indonesian company that is a member of World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), which is dedicated to sustainable development through economic growth, ecological balance and social progress.
The company contributes to environmental sustainability and social development in various ways like working with WWF to conserve forests with high conversation value and animals, issuing sustainability reports, teaching villagers integrated farming methods such as fish farming and livestock rearing to give them livelihood options, implementing the community fiber program where they work with small landowners to plant sustainable acacia trees on their land to supply to the mill, providing the seed capital for start-ups, and building infrastructure facilities such as roads, libraries and clinics and so on.
APRIL has won various awards for its role in community development, the most recent one being an award for the poverty alleviation work by its subsidiary, Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper, by the Manila-based Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility.
Underpinning all this is the basic philosophy that operations must be good for the people, good for the countries in which the company operate and good for the company.
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