Sudono Salim - Business Career

Business Career

After moving to Jakarta in 1952, Salim expanded his trading business by establishing connections with other ethnic Chinese businessmen in Singapore and Hong Kong. His soap factory became one of the primary suppliers to the Indonesian National Armed Forces. He later expanded into textiles and banking, eventually establishing largest private bank in Indonesia—the Bank Central Asia (BCA). After a merger in 1968, he gained the right to monopoly on clove importation. A joint venture with another Hokchia businessman became the largest producer of flour in Indonesia. These two companies were said to have provided him with the capital to establish the cement giant Indocement in 1973. In 1990, he established the food manufacturer Indofood.

Salim handed over management of the conglomerate Salim Group in 1992 to his son Anthony salim. By 1997, the Salim Group possessed US$20 billion in assets and included more than 500 companies employing over 200,000 Indonesians. When the Asian Financial Crisis hit, the conglomerate incurred US$4.8 billion in debts. Salim fled to Singapore during the May 1998 riots, when a mob burned his Jakarta home; his son remained to rebuild the Salim Group. He eventually settled in Los Angeles in the United States. Forbes magazine listed him as the 25th wealthiest businessperson in Southeast Asia in 2004 with a net worth of US$655 million.