Sukanto Tanoto has, in 50 years, built for himself a reputation for being utterly committed to community-centred growth. The billionaire is the founder of RGE, which manages companies such as APRIL, Sateri, and Pacific Oil and Gas, has long espoused his principle of the 4Cs and made it the guiding compass for all his companies.
A philosophy, a mission, a way of business
The 4Cs, which has been Sukanto Tanoto’s de facto philosophy, focuses on creating good for the community, country, climate, and company. It is a philosophy borne out of his strong belief that companies can be, and will only be, profitable when their actions benefit the communities.
The principle of the 4Cs hasn’t just been a slogan either. It has driven the decisions and initiatives of Sukanto Tanoto’s businesses; one only need think of RGE’s Sustainability Framework, or APRIL’s popular Community Development Programme for such examples. Indeed, the 4Cs have become symbolic of Sukanto Tanoto’s personal commitment to doing things his way, and the right way.
Building a relationship with everyone
At a recent iftar (break of fast) event with the media in Medan, Indonesia, RGE further affirmed its commitment to the community as it unveiled the 5th C, customer. Anderson Tanoto, Director of RGE and Sukanto Tanoto’s youngest son, unveiled this new change to the philosophy at the event, further assuring reporters that RGE and its business groups are not playing as they prepare to place even more focus on investing in Indonesia.
“We want to do business by running the company on the principle of the 5Cs that is good for the community, country, climate, customer, and company”, said Anderson.
Despite his young age, Anderson Tanoto has been credited making huge improvements to RGE’s processes and structure. To that end, he has been lauded for making RGE even more transparent than it already was, and made trust-building with external stakeholders a big part of his work. Together with Director of Asian Agri Group Kelvin Tio, Director of APRIL Rudi Fajar, and Chairman of Tanoto Foundation Sihol Aritonang, Anderson Tanoto spoke and mingled with various leaders and media personnel at what has become a frequent event to strengthen the relationship between RGE and its partners.