8 | FORBES INDONESIA JULY 2019
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JULY 2019 — VOLUME 10 NUMBER 7PUBLISHERJusuf Wanandi
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Taufik Darusman
SENIOR EDITORS Ardian Wibisono, Ulisari Eslita,
Yessar Rosendar
SENIOR WRITER Ester C. Natalia
WRITERMarella Putri
SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNERHidayat Abubakar
GRAPHIC DESIGNERDennis A. Pratama
PRODUCTION MANAGERMudafid Riyanto
VIDEOGRAPHERWijayanto
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT Hanna AzuraaBUSINESS DEPARTMENT
MANAGING DIRECTORRoger Finnie
EXECUTIVE DIRECTORTanti Jumiati
SENIOR EVENT & SALES MANAGER Bardan A. Sayid
ASST. MANAGER EVENTS & COMMUNICATIONS
Rio Zikrizal
MARKETING SUPPORTJosephine Hanna M.
CIRCULATION DIRECTORSeli Widiati
CIRCULATION MANAGERHabibie Hasanuddin
CIRCULATION STAFFNur Amilah
ACCOUNTING MANAGERHendra Gunawan
ACCOUNTING SUPERVISORInge Stephanie
ACCOUNTING EXECUTIVESTjhin Anna
ACCOUNTING STAFFAldina Anggraini,
Jessica RindyPT WAHANA MEDIATAMA
PRESIDENT DIRECTORMillie Stephanie Lukito
VICE PRESIDENT DIRECTORDewi Victoria
PRESIDENT COMMISSIONERJonathan Tahir
FORBES MEDIA LLC
CHAIRMAN & EDITOR IN CHIEF Steve Forbes
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Michael Federle
CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER Randall Lane
CEO/ASIA William Adamopoulos
EDITOR, FORBES ASIA Justin Doebele
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, FORBES ASIA Tina WeeT
he city of Ungaran lies some 45km south of Semarang, the capital of
Central Java province. Its population is a little over one million; it is
by any measure a pleasant city as it offers clean air and several inter-
esting tourism sites, most notably Fort Willem II, a late 18th-century Dutch-
built bastion.
The city also happens to be the location in which Po Sun Kok set up his
business, in the early part of the 1980s: a garment factory. The business,
which Po incorporated under the Golden Flower Group, flourished in ways
that enabled him to branch out into property and eventually made him be-
come a millionaire.
Unlike most of his compatriots, Semarang-born Po first developed prop-
erties in Singapore and later set his sights on his home country. He plowed
back profits from his Singapore operations into malls, hotels and apart-
ments in Semarang under another company, Pollux Properties, which he
established in Singapore 20 years ago in 1999. The company is listed on the
island-state’s bourse.
At 70 years of age, Po is presently chairman of Golden Flower Group and
Pollux Properties Ltd., leaving the daily operations of both conglomerates
to his children. He can now look back with great pride to the time when he
first started his business some three decades ago and struggled to become a
local champion in the realm of business.
Like the host of local champions featured in this month’s edition, Po
exemplifies the typical regional businessman whose single-mindedness
brought him to where he is today. He joins the ranks of local champions
with a strong sense of mission who turned their back on politics and other
non-business activities, focusing instead on doing what they know best:
making money.
Unlike their peers in Jakarta, Po and other local champions succeeded
with little fanfare and tended to shun publicity. They prefer to remain as the
nation’s unsung heroes in the realm of business. And in the course of it all
they created employment and raised the level of prosperity of the regions.
Of course, they all started small with big ideas but moved swiftly. At
the onset of developing their businesses, they make up the nation’s micro,
small and middle businesses (UMKM) before some if not many ultimately
emerged as local champions.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati often makes the point of under-
lining the importance of UMKMs to the Indonesian economy. The figures
say it all, according to Mulyani, as UMKMs absorb 96% of the nation’s work
force and contributes about 60% to the GDP.
Business rules dictate that some UMKMs may perish while others pre-
vail and reach new heights. Aptly enough, the latter deserved to be referred
to as local champions. FUNSUNG HEROES
OF BUSINESS
BY TAUFIK DARUSMAN
[email protected]