Sukanto Tanoto’s APRIL participates in environment and forestry fair

Sukanto Tanoto  is a businessman extraordinaire, a man who raised an empire for the ages in just one generation. The founder of international resource-management giant RGE, which manages companies such as APRIL, Sateri, and Pacific Oil and Gas, name is synonymous with success in the industry. With businesses worth a total of 18 billion dollars, RGE and Sukanto Tanoto have truly become behemoths of the resource-manufacturing industry.

The fuel for success — 5Cs

Sukanto Tanoto’s success was not just down to sheer luck, hard work, and inspiration either. The businessman’s philosophy, a steadfast belief in the 5Cs, creating good for the Community, Country, Climate, Customer, and Company, has been equally important in driving his rise.  It has guided all Sukanto Tanoto’s businesses in their dealings over the past 50 years, and tangible success has manifested as a result. Most recently APRIL, one of RGE’s business groups, was found taking part in Riau’s environment and forestry fair.

APRIL’s good work in the limelight

APRIL’s level of work in environmental conservation and protection is rare for a for-profit company, and even rarer for one in the resource industry. Under Sukanto Tanoto’s guidance and leadership however, APRIL has consistently blazed a trail for companies in the resource industry to be more sustainable. To that end, it has a fantastic track record that is almost jaw-dropping: Restorasi Ekosistem Riau, which Sukanto Tanoto-led APRIL pioneered, has been much vaunted, while the Free-Fire Alliance, of which APRIL is a founding member, has become an industry-wide success story.

On show at the environment and forestry fair, however, was APRIL’s crown jewel in environmental protection and conservation – the Fire-Free Village Programme (FFVP). The FFVP is a fire management project founded on close engagement with local communities. To date, it has doubled the number of villages it works with, while the number of fire-free villages has also increased.  Indeed, it has come a long way, since its early days as a pilot project with only 4 villages participating in it. The FFVP is widely-believed to be the best fire prevention and protection programme in Riau.