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em>In a rare interview with The Jakarta Post’s Mariel Grazella, Putera Sampoerna, heir to PT HM Sampoerna and founder of Sampoerna Strategic, spoke extensively of his social opus, the Putra Sampoerna Foundation — Indonesia’s primary social business institution which stands on the four pillars of education, entrepreneurship, women’s empowerment and disaster relief.

Under the stewardship of Putera’s incisive acumen, comparable to those he has exhibited in his other business pursuits, the foundation has managed Rp 170.7 billion of funds (inaudited) last year from individual and corporate donors, including Bank Permata, ExxonMobil Corporation, BP Indonesia and PT HM Sampoerna.

Yet, in his own words, much still lies ahead in “educating corporates and the general public on the tremendous needs and limitations this country has in its effort to eradicate poverty, increase living standards and shrink income gaps”.

Question: Certain people who have decided to dedicate their lives to improving society have had pivotal moments which move them towards a cause. Did you have such moments which led you to your work at the Putra Sampoerna Foundation?

Answer: There were no pivotal moments. From my grandfather’s days, we [the family] were always taught that we have social obligations. Somewhere down the line, I came up with the motto of believing that we should all strive within our own individual capacities to leave this world a better place than that which we were born in. In any case, Indonesia has been good to me and this is one way of giving back.

In essence, what makes the Putera Sampoerna Foundation a ‘social business institution’ and in what ways does the foundation stand out from the various versions of charitable organizations?

The difference is one of attitude and perspective. A social business does not see itself as a “charitable” organization, which is totally dependent on donations for its continued existence. It looks at all of its activities as any business would, with sustainability, professionalism, or non-volunteerism, and revenue growth over the long term as its primary goal. Yet, it also does not preclude itself from carrying out “for profit” activities for the greater good. So, if you have the resources to commit to your social obligations, you should then organize those initiatives into social business units and run them with the same dedication and passion as you would your other commercial enterprises.

One of the programs the foundation is highly focused on is education, under which the foundation has set up the Sampoerna Academy in which students from underprivileged families could attain international-standard secondary level schooling. How does the foundation exemplify sustainability through their education initiatives?

For the Sampoerna Academy, we take the top five percent of academic achievers from junior high school and then select those that we believe have leadership potential. To me, the leadership potential is more important than the scholastic potential, so typically, from the five percent that qualify from an academic standpoint, maybe only 30 percent will be accepted by us. If you come to our academy in Bogor, you will see that the 24 provinces and four religions are represented by our students. We also have academies in Malang, Palembang and Bali.

These students are the smartest, the hungriest and come from the poorest families. We have them in our boarding school for three years so we can instill our value system into their DNA. The values are leadership, entrepreneurship, and giving back to society. That is why I insist they must be at the boarding school.

By the time they finish their education with us, they can speak fluent English and they have an International Baccalaureate (IB) certificate, or the equivalent, so they can go to any English-speaking university.

Now, we get donations from different companies, such as ExxonMobil Corporation who gave us around US$ 3.15 million to support 200 students for three years, whom I bond Exxon with. It costs our academy US$ 5,000 per student and I hope that the sponsor will continue investing in the education of the students up to the tertiary level.

I do not give scholarships for my students. They have to pay me back a total of US$ 15,000 spent for the three years in the academy.

This is because I have invested in, let’s say, you, a student from a poor village. I call it an equity investment. I will support you through school and find other people to support you through school. As soon as you get a job, I’m entitled to 20 percent of your income throughout your life. If you say 20 percent is too high and so on, I would say why? I have taken a risk in you for 8 years. If I take you in or you do not finish school, then what? I have lost my investment, haven’t I?

But if you make it, even at 20 percent of your pay, you are already making seven times your pay because if you had not gone to university, you would only make only Rp 1 million per month instead of a starting salary six to seven times larger.

If you have a job making only Rp 3 million, then I only make Rp 600,000 with which, if you calculate, is not enough for what I have given you. I am not telling you what job to take, but you have a debt of honor with which you shall pay me 20 percent of your income.

This is basic Sharia. I do not charge you interest but we share the benefits.

If you look at it from that standpoint, I give you one more option. You can buy my equity investment in you back. So if you look at it from a business investment standpoint, then people start to understand.

We at the foundation have to find ways to keep things turning and hopefully, 20 to 30 years from now when our first round of students are already making a lot of money, they would be giving back to the Siswa Bangsa Cooperative. The cooperative is not mine, but is for the students. I am not making any money out of this but at least the next generation has a chance to.

Your ideas on a treating educational support as an equity is impressive. What are your concepts regarding providing funds for small and medium enterprises through the foundation’s Mekar branch?

We are working on an online business-to-business system which will work like a stock exchange. On the one side, we have small businesses that have gone through a selection process which we feature online. Then, on the other side, we can get into angel funding. They can go online and tell which business they like. They can even start partial investments so they could have a diverse portfolio.

This way, you can get everybody involved. You [investors] do not loose money. You will make more than what you make in a bank and helping your countrymen by creating jobs. That is my ultimate goal.

Now, we have screened applications from the bigger projects that come through to Jakarta. That will give the angels more comfort that somebody is doing the screening. We will send the investments that are big enough to have a business plan to our Sampoerna School of Business so even our students can get involved in helping. That’s the whole ecosystem.

How do you measure success when it comes to doing social business?

In the case of all our initiatives, we find that the general public is not aware of the extent of the limitations of the current systems in place. Our culture is rich in the willingness to give towards community support. Thus, if the public were aware of the needs, I am sure that we can get more people to participate in the various programs that we do.

So, my measure of success would be one based on the level of public awareness, support and participation we can garner. Unfortunately, right now, most of our big donors are foreigners. This is not right. Indonesians should help Indonesians. We can’t always be beggars. It’s not sustainable. So we have to try to get local corporations to participate and then we have to get local individuals.

As a businessman, believe me when I tell you that maintaining social harmony, especially in the communities around one’s activities, becomes an invaluable asset to corporate operations and peace of mind.

And which directions do you see the Putera Sampoerna Foundation moving in the future?

As a guideline, all PSF activities must at some time become rated at the top of its class or sector, economically viable, sustainable and bankable.