Teachers and students of SDN Bukit Agung 004 in their herb garden.

The shaping of one’s mentality and habit must start from early age and be supported by consistent education. Tanoto Foundation agrees with this premise and has been supporting the improvement of the education sector in Indonesia since 1981.

Anderson Tanoto, member of Tanoto Foundation Board of Trustees, explained that the Foundation was established based on the belief of its founders, Sukanto Tanoto and Tinah Bingei Tanoto. They believe that everyone should have an opportunity to realize his or her potential fully. “Education is an important part of this endeavor. This is one of the reasons why Tanoto Foundation’s focus is to improve quality and access of education, particularly in rural areas in Indonesia,” said the youngest son of Sukanto Tanoto.

Anderson also added,” Through Tanoto Foundation’s program of improving quality of education, Tanoto Foundation works with 322 schools in North Sumatra, Riau, and Jambi. Our Independent Teachers Program, for example, train teachers from these schools so they could teach students with appropriate yet fun and engaging methodologies.”

“There are more than 200 schools that have been trained so they could maintain their school and surrounding to be safe and hygienic. The school’s stakeholders such as students and teachers are also trained to have environment-friendly habits. With these programs, we believe that teaching and learning process can properly take place in the school and quality of education can be improved,” Anderson further explained about Tanoto Foundation programs.

In Riau, particularly in Pangkalan Kerinci sub-district, Pelalawan District, one of Tanoto Foundation’s partner schools is SDN 004 Bukit Agung. As part of the collaboration, the School teachers and stakeholders have been trained in the above mentioned programs. To date, SDN 004 Bukit Agung has won many Green School Awards at sub district, district, and provincial levels.

Sukanto Tanoto, Founder of Tanoto Foundation.

Natural resource-based manufacturing has catapulted Sukanto Tanoto to a position as a major global player in palm oil as well as pulp and paper. Now the 66-year-old Medan-born entrepreneur is focusing his sights on energy and tackling the industry with the same zeal.

Sukanto Tanoto still has big dreams. Over the past 48 years, starting in his native Medan, he has built a global business empire stretching from Asia to Latin America, Europe and North America.

He is focusing on the long term, for a time when he will have left the stage. “I want sustainability. There is still a lot to do and I cannot do everything. My main job is to sustain the company and make sure it’s good for the country,” he states.

Sukanto Tanoto – Founder of Tanoto Foundation

Sukanto Tanoto started his business from zero. He was not able to finish his high school education because he had to support his family. The challenges and difficulties in his life did not deter his drive to keep learning and develop his business. Sukanto Tanoto believes that every person should have the opportunity to realize his or her full potential.

Based on this belief, together with his spouse, Tinah Bingei Tanoto, Sukanto Tanoto founded Tanoto Foundation. The Foundation focuses on poverty alleviation through three pillars of programs: quality and access improvement in education, empowerment of communities, and enhancement of quality of lives.

Parts of this article are shared with permission from GlobeAsia. For more information on Sukanto Tanoto and his business journey, read here

Different Workshops During Tanoto Scholars Gathering To Develop Tanoto Scholars Skills.

What kind of character would you want to show to others? Would you want to be perceived as smart, friendly, or even arrogant? All of these characters could be created. Furthermore, someone’s character could play a significant role in his or her success in the future.

Lead by Erwin Parengkuan, a media personality, these questions were discussed during training on personal branding for recipients of Tanoto Scholarship or Tanoto Scholars. In this session, Tanoto Scholars were encouraged to think about ways to develop their characters to achieve success in the future.

Tanoto Scholars were also invited to use the SWOT matrix to learn about their strengths to seize available opportunities as well as how to overcome their weaknesses while facing threats.

The next session was carried out by Becky Tumewu, also a media personality. She challenged most of the Tanoto Scholars to be brave enough to overcome their shyness and talk in front of the forum. Through fun and interactive session, the Scholars were engaged in learning about the dos and don’ts in public speaking and ways to improve their skills.

Afterward, Tanoto Scholars learned about blogging from the Kompasiana team. In this session, they learned about the trips and tricks in blogging. According to Nurulloh from Kompasiana, blogging was not only about expressing one’s thoughts. “Blogging is a skill that can be developed and improved over time. A good blog could also be a source of income,” he said to the participants.

“Write, so you exist,” said Nurulloh. He further said that blogging was not as difficult as one might think. He also said that if the participants found it difficult to start blogging, then they could try by writing a topic they were interested in. Then, they could start writing about what other people liked.

Nurulloh also reminded Tanoto Scholars to appreciate the work of others. He explained that, in cases where other people’s work was used, the source of information or original author should always be included.

These series of training was carried out during Tanoto Scholars Gathering as a part of Tanoto Foundation’s effort to improve the soft skills of the Tanoto Scholars. Other activities in this Gathering included outbound games to instill the values of leadership and team work among the Scholars.