Tanoto Foundation held its yearly event of Tanoto Scholars Gathering at Pangkalan Kerinci, Riau, from August 12 to 15, 2015. The Gathering aims to provide recipients of Tanoto Foundation scholarships or Tanoto Scholars with various soft skills such as teamwork and leadership.

In his opening remark, member of Tanoto Foundation Board of Trustees Anderson Tanoto said that with a total of 266 people, this year’s gathering has attracted the highest number of participants so far. These Tanoto Scholars came from 23 universities in nine cities in Indonesia, namely Jakarta, Bogor, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Medan, Pekanbaru, Jambi, Samarinda, and Makassar.

“Tanoto Foundation does not only provide financial support for Tanoto Scholars, but also prepares the scholarship recipients to be effective leaders for now and the future. Tanoto Foundation is committed to support the Indonesian Government’s effort to alleviate poverty. As education is an important element of this effort, Tanoto Foundation also continues to support the improvement of this sector as well,” said Anderson Tanoto.

The theme of Tanoto Scholars Gathering 2015 is “Learn and Lead.” This theme is based on the belief of the founders of Tanoto Foundation, Bapak Sukanto Tanoto and Ibu Tinah Bingei Tanoto. They believe that to progress, one can learn from various sources, not just restricted to school teachings. Further, they believe that to be a good leader, one must be able to lead oneself, to adapt into the surrounding environment, and eventually learn how to become a leader of this nation.

“This event was exciting and fun. We obtain a lot of useful information. In addition to being trained in leadership and other skills, we are also able to build our network with Tanoto Scholars from other universities,” said Hapsari Sulitya, Tanoto Scholar from Universitas Gadjah Mada Yogyakarta.

As part of the event, Tanoto Scholars also visited the operational areas of Tanoto Foundation corporate partners, PT. Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper and Asian Agri to directly learn about these organizations’ sustainability practices in their businesses.

In addition, Tanoto Scholars also met with the founders of Tanoto Foundation, Bapak Sukanto Tanoto and Ibu Tinah Bingei Tanoto. In this occasion, Bapak Sukanto Tanoto shared his values with Tanoto Scholars.

“There are five things that you need to have to be a good leader. First, regardless the situation, do not give up. Second, you need to use every available opportunity to learn. The third character that you need to have is to always work hard. Fourth, when you don’t understand, don’t be shy and ask someone who knows. And lastly, you have to be prepared for all kinds of possibilities at all times,” said Sukanto Tanoto.

Muhammad Taufik Hidayat (front line, fourth from left) together with other young scientists during Tanoto Student Research Award 2015.

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Muhammad Taufik Hidayat was born in Jakarta on December 23, 1993. Taufik’s academic performance in school has always been superb since his kindergarten days. Later, he took part in his high school’s accelerated program and was able to complete the education in two years.

His interest in Physics started when he chose to major in Science in high school. He continued to focus on this subject, even competed at National Science Olympic for DKI Jakarta Province.

After high school, he selected Physics Engineering at Bandung Institute of Technology. With the university, he is able to explore his interest in science further through different scientific researches. Taufik took part in several competitions at the national level and won a few.

However, during the fourth semester of his university education, he started to feel the burden of paying the university tuition fee. His family was not able to fully support his education anymore because they needed the funds to support Taufik’s younger sibling who was a child with special needs. Taufik then tried to lessen the burden and looked for scholarship.

“I heard from my colleagues at the university that Tanoto Foundation is a good provider of scholarships. His words turned out to be true. As a Tanoto Scholar, I receive different types of support including training to improve my soft skills. Also, Tanoto Foundation always encourages me to carry out social activities for the surrounding communities,” said Taufik.

Tanoto Foundation also supports Taufik’s interest in carrying out scientific experiments. Through Tanoto Student Research Award, Taufik found the right vehicle to implement his passion. For Tanoto Student Research Award 2015, Taufik and his colleagues from Institute Technology of Bandung won the third place with their experiment.

“We developed a tool that could determine if a building has points that would waste energy. We could also converse the energy so the use would become more efficient.” Taufik said about the result of their experiment.

His love for Physics encourages him to dream high. Taufik now plans to continue his education in Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

Taufik appreciates greatly the support from Tanoto Foundation. He hopes that Tanoto Foundation continues to support other Tanoto Scholars so they could maximize their potential and improve their life in the future.

Participants of Tanoto Initiative at The Wharton School Global Faculty Development Program.

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For the third time since 2013, Tanoto Foundation has been supporting lecturers of Indonesian universities to visit The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. For 2015, a total of six lecturers which is comprised of three lecturers from Universitas Gadjah Mada and three from Universitas Indonesia will take part in this capacity building initiative.

Through Global Faculty Development Program, lecturers will learn from professors of The Wharton School the most efficient and effective ways to prepare and write their papers so their research results can be published in reputable international journal. These six lecturers are Amin Wibowo, Bowo Setiyono and Eddy Junarsin from Universitas Gadjah Mada. Meanwhile, the three participants from Universitas Indonesia are Ratna Wardhani, Sri Rahayu Hijrah Hati, and Sylvia Veronica.

The research topics of these lecturers vary, from “Does Diversity of Bank Board Members Affect Performance and Risk? Evidence from an Emerging Market” to “The Effect of Governance System and Degree of Convergence to IFRS on the Quality of Financial Reporting: Evidence from Asia.”

“We feel that we are still not at par with the universities from other countries, particularly in publishing our research results in reputable international journals. We need support from different institutions to improve this situation. We also hope that, with the support from Tanoto Foundation, more research papers will be published in international journals in the long run,” said Ratna Wardhani, one of the lecturers who will go to The Wharton School.

Global Faculty Development Program is part of Tanoto Initiative at The Wharton School which is a collaboration between the two institutions in the past years. Tanoto Foundation has also invited professors of The Wharton School to lecture students at the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Indonesia and the University of Gadjah Mada. In addition, The Wharton School students also visit Indonesia regularly to learn directly sustainable business practices that have been implemented by Tanoto Foundation corporate partners in the country.