RGE Pte. Ltd.

Sukanto Tanoto

Sukanto Tanoto - Founder and Chairman, RGE

Sukanto Tanoto is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of RGE, a global resource-based group with administrative offices in Singapore, China, Hong Kong and Jakarta.

Mr. Tanoto’s business career began in 1966 at the age of 17 when, due to the political and economic climate in Indonesia at that time, he left school early and joined his father's firm, a small company supplying spare parts to the oil and construction industries in the Indonesian city of Medan.

An entrepreneur and visionary, Mr. Tanoto is noted for his success in pioneering a number of industries in Indonesia. In 1973, he set up Raja Garuda Mas (RGM) to enter the plywood business, transforming Indonesia from an exporter of raw materials (logs) to a value-added processor. Following this success and his growing reputation as someone who “could make it happen”, the Indonesian government requested he enter the palm oil industry where he quickly established a fully integrated operation from plantations to refineries.

Today, RGE (previously known as “RGM International”) is a global firm with manufacturing operations in Indonesia, China and Brazil, and sales offices on four continents. The business encompasses four key operational areas: pulp & paper (APRIL – Asia Pacific Resources International Ltd), agro industry (Asian Agri), specialty cellulose and cellulosic fibre (Sateri International), and energy resources development (Pacific Oil & Gas). The RGE group has assets of around US$10 billion and employs more than 50,000 people worldwide.

Mr. Tanoto strongly believes that a company can only be successful if it is a responsible corporate citizen. Guided by his principle that all businesses should be conducted in a manner that is good for the people, good for the country and good for the company, Mr. Tanoto ensures that each of his business group undertakes responsible environmental and social stewardship by embracing and integrating the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) into its respective business model and management. The CSR programmes include highly successful integrated farming training schemes which have changed thousands of subsistence villagers into self-sufficient and sustainable farmers. Other community development activities include small & medium enterprise (SME) programmes to help establish businesses, vocational training, community fibre farms and social infrastructure support.

With a strong intellectual curiosity and a firm belief in continuous learning, Mr. Tanoto has not only continued his own interrupted education by undertaking management courses at some of the world’s foremost schools (INSEAD, Harvard, Wharton etc.), he has also committed to providing educational assistance at all levels of society.

He and his family have formed the Tanoto Foundation with the aim of helping reduce poverty and advance human achievement. Working in the areas of education, poverty alleviation, healthcare and disaster relief, the Foundation makes scholarships available to students, provides honorariums to teachers (particularly those working in rural areas), builds schools and supplies equipment and books as well as provides healthcare in remote areas and rapid response assistance in earthquakes and other natural calamities.

Mr. Tanoto is a member of the INSEAD International Council, World Presidents' Organisation, Wharton Board of Overseers, Chief Executives Organisation, and various other educational, community and industry bodies.