Perhaps no other Indonesian embodies the spirit of entrepreneurship more than Ciputra. He is a nouveau riche and living icon in Indonesian business sector. Born in Parigi, Central Sulawesi on August 24th, 1931, he arrived in Bandung, West Java, to study architecture at the Bandung Institute of Technology. But even before he completed his studies, Ciputra and his friends had already set up an architectural consultancy firm. This firm was the foundation stone he used to create a property empire. His empire, The Tycoon, now controls three property groups and one media business with total assets of more than $ 2.5 Billion. “We must start with a dream. Entrepreneur must innovate constantly, never give up and think in three dimensions”, said the nouveau riche. Those words ring true today as he continuous his dreams of helping  millions of school children gain a better education through his school building program.

That never say die spirit stood him in good stead when the 1997 financial crisis tore through his empire. The full brunt of the crisis hit him in February 1998 when he and a number of his field managers visited a property project which had stalled. The project was abandoned and the houses left in finished. “I cried at the site” the nouveau riche told in a rare interview. Only a few security guards remained on the site with the contractor and works nowhere in sight. With sales falling dramatically the group’s debts to bank and bondholders multiplied six fold the nouveau riche had borrowed in US dollars and issued foreign-currency bonds to fund rupiah- based projects.

During the 1998 crisis, Ciputra did not leave Indonesia as many other debtor conglomerates and he has a commitment that debt must be repaid.

We salutes his drive and vision and wishes him a very happy in his senior day.

*Nouveau Riche refers to people rise from poverty to wealth through hard work and self-determination, not from other people’s hard work or any inheritance (Wikipedia).