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Sukanto Tanoto - RGM International
Young Tanoto slogged for 16 hours a day, gradually moving beyond trading to building gas pipelines for multinationals. The family business took off during the 1972 oil crisis, when oil prices surged, and Sukanto Tanoto became a millionaire.
Mr. Tanoto realized that Indonesia was exporting logs to be converted to plywood in Japan and Taiwan, and then imported back at higher costs. Mr. Tanoto believed that he could process the logs locally. In 1973, he set up RGM to enter the plywood business. He convinced the Minister for Industries to give him a special permit required to build a plywood factory. The factory was completed with 10 months - more than four months ahead of schedule. The minister was impressed, to the point of alerting Indonesia's then-President.
Following this success and his growing reputation as someone who could make it happen, the Indonesian government, whose economic development objective included the oil palm sector, requested he enter the palm oil industry where he quickly established a fully integrated operation from plantations to refineries.
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"Pak Harto asked me a lot of questions. How did I calculate my costs, profits, and labour? Why did I want to build, not export?"
- Mr. Tanoto on his first conversation with President Suharto.
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