Oei Wie Gwan

Oei Wie Gwan (), a native of Lasem, Central Java, was a

Chinese-Indonesian Chinese Indonesians ( id, Orang Tionghoa Indonesia) and colloquially Chindo or just Tionghoa are Indonesians whose ancestors arrived from China at some stage in the last eight centuries. Chinese people and their Indonesian descendants have l ...

businessman who founded the

kretek Kretek () are unfiltered cigarettes of Indonesian origin, made with a blend of tobacco, cloves, and other flavors. The word "kretek" itself is an onomatopoetic term for the crackling sound of burning cloves. Partly due to favorable taxation ...

company PT

Djarum PT Djarum (, literally "needle") is an Indonesian ''kretek'' (clove cigarette) brand/manufacturer founded on 21 April 1951 by Oei Wie Gwan in Kudus, Central Java. It produces dozens of domestic and international brands. Djarum Black, Super an ...

. The company was established on 21 April 1951 on Bitingan Kudus Street with of 10 employees. The small-time venture soon took off. In the mid-1950s, Oei Wie Gwan purchased the brand and licence to the name. The word "Djarum" refers to a gramophone needle. His first business venture was the establishment of a fireworks factory under the brand Leo, located in

Rembang Rembang Regency ( id, Kabupaten Rembang) is a regency ( id, kabupaten) on the extreme northeast coast of Central Java Province, on the island of Java (bordering on the Java Sea) in Indonesia. The regency covers an area of 1,035.70 km2 on Java ...

Central Java Central Java ( id, Jawa Tengah) is a province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogyakarta in t ...

. Leo became a leading fireworks brand in

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 ...

. The factory, established pre-World War II, stopped production after the nation gained independence, due to a government ban which resulted in the closure of fireworks factories in Indonesia. Kretek became Oei Wie Gwan's business of choice following the closure of his fireworks business. Under the PT Djarum brand, tobacco and cloves, were blended in cigarettes. He died in 1963. He left his sons

Michael Bambang Hartono Michael Bambang Hartono (born 2 October 1939), also known as Oei Hwie Siong (), is a Chinese Indonesian billionaire heir and businessman. Michael and his brother Robert Budi are the owners of kretek (clove cigarette) manufacturer Djarum, whi ...

and

Robert Budi Hartono Robert Budi Hartono (; born on 28 April 1941) is a Chinese Indonesian tobacco billionaire with a 2018 net worth of US$12.6 billion. He owns and runs the privately held Djarum, the world's third largest maker of clove cigarettes. Djarum has rep ...

in charge of the company. 1963 deaths Indonesian company founders Indonesian people of Chinese descent Year of birth missing People from Fuqing Hartono family {{Indonesia-business-bio-stub