Sukanto Tanoto

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 International (RGEI) 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.