Chairul Tanjung is worth $1.25 billion and could easily wear designer clothes--but he prefers the all-black uniform worn by his Trans Media staff. As they do, he clips an ID badge to his pocket. The only difference is a small "CT" embroidered on the uniform--initials are added for all senior managers. "The uniform and ID card are the symbols of the company. I should be an example. By wearing these, we state that we are proud of our company," he says sitting in his palatial office on the top floor of the headquarters of Bank Mega, which he also owns (Chairul's steering of the bank through the global financial crisis was profiled by FORBES ASIA two years ago).
Chairul, the son of a journalist, has built his conglomerate Para Group without connections. "I am a nobody. I am not the son of a president, and I am not the brother of somebody. So if I can do it, then anybody can," says Chairul, 48. While most superrich are ethnic Chinese, Chairul, ranked No. 18, is one of the few Pribumi (native Indonesian) on our 40 Richest list. "He is part of the new face of indigenous businessmen," says James Castle, chairman of CastleAsia, a consultancy in Jakarta.
And he is a businessman with a taste for megadeals, as was shown this April when he acquired for $300 million a 40% stake in retailer PT Carrefour Indonesia from the parent company, France's Carrefour, which retains 60%. (For the acquisition Chairul raised $300 million from such blue-chip investors as
His philosophy in expanding business: "Buy the future with present value." Therefore Chairul plans to expand Carrefour to 100 stores by year's end, from 80 at the time of acquisition, and will add another 100 within five years. "Even in Papua," he boasts.
Not content with Carrefour, Chairul said in late May he plans to enter the minimarket business and open 10,000 stores in ten years, putting him in competition with established players like Djoko Susanto's Alfamart, which had 3,400 outlets at the end of 2009.
Chairul's success comes in large part from his talent to understand, and sell to, the same group from which he rose. With the economy booming, millions are entering the middle class and creating a consumer society. This year 10% of the country's 240 million have an annual income above $10,000, while another 30% have incomes from $1,000 to $10,000, according to the government statistics bureau. "All our businesses are driven by a consumer focus," says Para Group Director Ashish Saboo.
Chairul is a master of synergizing these businesses: Consumers can use their Bank Mega credit cards to shop at Carrefour or buy goodies from Armani, Valentino or Jimmy Choo (brands he has licensed). After recharging with beverages from his Coffee Bean cafes, shoppers can head to his theme parks, where they can have ice cream at Baskin-Robbins stores (which he has also licensed). His TV stations run ads for these products, and rides at the theme parks are tied to his TV shows, such as Dunia Lain (Haunted World).
"We sell happiness," says Chairul.
His happiness empire is divided into three parts. First is financial services, under the Mega Corpora brand, with his Bank Mega and other financial services. Then he has a lifestyle, retail and entertainment division, branded Trans Corpora. Under this umbrella are TV stations, theme parks and retail. Finally, natural resources, under CT Global Resources, his smallest and least developed division.
His Bank Mega has performed well. Listed in 2000, it had $50 million in net profit in 2009 on revenue of $430 million. For this year through September the bank's profit hit $70 million. One reason for the success of the bank is that it has an extensive profit-sharing plan, still a rarity among Indonesian companies. Each branch must meet certain targets; any profits in excess of this are shared equally between the branch and the shareholders. Similar profit-sharing plans are found throughout the group.
Expansion is the order of the day for his media branch. Trans Media holds the highest profit among its competitors, with a combined net profit of $76 million in 2009. His two TV channels have a combined audience share of 28%, the second largest in the country, according to Nielsen Indonesia. To manage costs, Chairul produces all of his shows in-house, while rivals buy mostly from independent producers. He personally approves all shows and is unsentimental about them--a new show must hit its numbers by the third episode or be killed.
Chairul is also mulling online media, cable TV and print. His reputation is so strong that in April a rumor hit the markets that he wanted to buy rival TV station Indosiar, making the company's share price more than double in a week (Para Group denied the rumors).
A favorite business for Chairul is theme parks. On the auspicious "999" date of Sept. 9 last year, at 9 a.m., he opened Trans Studio, one of the world's biggest indoor theme parks, in Makassar. Built with an investment topping a reported $100 million in a joint venture with former vice president Jusuf Kalla, the park is on a 24-hectare waterfront site with 21 rides, all indoors, so visitors can escape the tropical heat. The development has shopping venues and restaurants, with hotels to be added soon. Chairul plans to build another 20 parks nationwide, including Trans Studio in Jakarta, which is expected to be the largest theme park in Southeast Asia.
Chairul hasn't been as successful with natural resources. Given the activity elsewhere, CT Global Resources is a laggard. It was set up to acquire plantations and other renewable natural resources. So far it has 60,000 hectares of palm oil plantations in East Kalimantan.
Looking ahead, Chairul is confident that Para Group--to be rebranded CT Corp. in early 2011--can flourish in the next few years: "Profit can be doubled, tripled easily. I believe in this country. It is growing," he says.
Adapted from Forbes Indonesia.