Martua Sitorus (born 1960) is an Indonesian business magnate and entrepreneur. He was once known as the fourth richest person in Indonesia (and #377 in the world), but had decreased to fifteenth by December 2018, according to

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

. He and his business partner,

Kuok Khoon Hong Kuok Khoon Hong (; born 1949) is a Singaporean business magnate, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Wilmar International (), having built it into one of Asia's leading agribusiness groups, and the world' ...

founded the

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

-based Wilmar International, the largest palm oil producer in the world. Wilmar's business activities include oil palm cultivation,

oilseeds Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed oils, or fats ...

crushing,

edible oils Cooking oil is plant, animal, or synthetic liquid fat used in frying, baking, and other types of cooking. It is also used in food preparation and flavoring not involving heat, such as salad dressings and bread dips, and may be called edible oil. ...

refining, sugar milling and refining, specialty fats,

oleochemicals Oleochemistry is the study of vegetable oils and animal oils and fats, and oleochemicals derived from these fats and oils. The resulting product can be called oleochemicals (from Latin: oleum "olive oil"). The major product of this industry is soap, ...

biodiesel Biodiesel is a form of diesel fuel derived from plants or animals and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made by chemically reacting lipids such as animal fat (tallow), soybean oil, or some other vegetable oil with ...

and fertilizers manufacturing and grains processing. It has over 300 manufacturing plants and an extensive distribution network covering

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and some 50 other countries.

Personal life

Martua was born in Pematang Siantar, a town located in

North Sumatra North Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Utara) is a province of Indonesia located on the northern part of the island of Sumatra. Its capital and largest city is Medan. North Sumatra is Indonesia's fourth most populous province after West Java, East Java and ...

, Indonesia. After finishing high school, he continued to the University of HKBP Nomensen,

Medan Medan (; English: ) is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra, as well as a regional hub and financial centre of Sumatra. According to the National Development Planning Agency, Medan is one of the four main ...

which was the largest city in North Sumatra, to finish his economic degrees. During his teenage years, Martua traded

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

; when grown up he started his business as a

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...

and mesocarp trader.

Career

Wilmar International

Martua along with

, the nephew of Malaysia's richest tycoon

Robert Kuok Robert Kuok Hock Nien (; Hokchew: ''Guoh24 Houk5 Nieng55''; born 6 October 1923), is a Malaysian business magnate and investor. Since 1973, Kuok has lived in Hong Kong. According to ''Forbes'', his net worth is estimated at $12.6 billion as of ...

, founded Wilmar International Limited and by 1991 he owned 7.100 hectare of

palm tree The Arecaceae is a family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm trees ...

plantations, and also built his own palm oil refinery in North Sumatra. The Wilmar International business has grown rapidly; by 2013 Wilmar owns more than 50 other companies with 300 manufacturing plants around the world. Martua also owns London skycraper

Aviva Tower St Helen's (previously known as the Aviva Tower or the Commercial Union building) is a commercial skyscraper in London, United Kingdom. It is tall and has 23 floors. The postal address is No. 1, Undershaft, though the main entrance fronts onto ...

and a hospital in Medan, Murni Teguh Memorial Hospital, which is named after Martua's mother, Murni Teguh. The hospital was launched on 12 December 2012 (12/12/2012). In 2014, Sitorus also formed a partnership with

Roys Poyiadjis Roys Poyiadjis (born 14 August 1965) is a Greek Cypriot entrepreneur and financier. He is most notable for his role in the largest Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) settlement with an individual, $200 million, after he pleaded guilty to ...

to create the largest biofuel power plant in Japan. The plant's 20 year feed-in tariff is valued at $1.5 billion US dollars.

Gama Corporation

Apart from Wilmar, Martua and his elder brother Ganda Thio co-founded Gama Corporation in 2011, which runs property, cement plant and other businesses through subsidiaries Gama Land and Semen Merah Putih. Gama itself refer to the names of its founders, Ganda & Martua (Ga-ma). Gama Corp owns the 64-story

Gama Tower Gama Tower (formerly known as Cemindo Tower) is a skyscraper located at Jalan H.R. Rasuna Said, South Jakarta, Indonesia. It was also known as ''Rasuna Tower'' and ''Cemindo Tower'' during construction period, but finally named as ''Gama Tower'' ...

which is located at Rasuna Said - Jakarta, Indonesia. Gama Tower is known as the tallest building in Indonesia. The Westin Hotel, Jakarta branch, is located on the top floors of this building above the Gama Corporation offices.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sitorus, Martua 1960 births Living people Indonesian billionaires Indonesian businesspeople Indonesian people of Chinese descent Palm oil production in Indonesia People from Pematangsiantar People of Batak descent

Personal life

Career

Wilmar International

Gama Corporation

See also

References