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Sampoerna focuses on human capital development for sustainability

Front Row (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, May 28, 2024

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Sampoerna focuses on human capital development for sustainability PT HM Sampoerna Tbk. (Sampoerna) president director Ivan Cahyadi poses for a photograph following an interview with media in Jakarta on May 14. During the interview Ivan has reaffirmed Sampoerna’s commitment in human capital development, including employees and its value chain, including farmers, business partners, MSMEs, and the general public. In human capital development, Sampoerna works to scale up their competencies so as to enable them to make significant contributions to advancing individuals, the organization and the country. (Courtesy of PT HM Sampoerna Tbk)

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van Cahyadi, newly appointed president director of PT HM Sampoerna Tbk. (Sampoerna) has reaffirmed the company’s commitment to developing human capital, ensuring not only business growth and sustainability, but also the well-being of society at large.

In a meeting with media in Jakarta on May 14, Ivan revealed how Sampoerna, which celebrated its 111th anniversary this year, places a high priority on the development of human capital, a fundamental element in corporate sustainability, as it has a positive impact not only on the company and its business ecosystem but also in Indonesia, especially due to its multiplier effects.

Touching upon his career journey, Ivan said that he started work at Sampoerna as a management trainee in 1996, and thanks largely to Sampoerna’s human capital development policy that provided employees with access and opportunity for self-development, he could climb up the career ladder and eventually reach the top position at the company.

Ivan acknowledged that initially he did not understand why he was required to join job rotation, engage in various projects from different divisions, including IT, factory, sales, marketing and finance.

“Now looking back, this was an incredible investment that the company made in me as a fresh graduate in those days. I was rotated for four years in various lines of the company to enable me to understand what the entire business supply chain and business model were like,” he said.

“As a fresh graduate, I took part in initiating the establishment of Sampoerna supply chain,” he recalled.

Since then, Ivan has held several leadership positions, including General Manager East covering different cities from Pekalongan and Tegal to Merauke, as well as Director Sales Operations West covering cities from Cirebon and Majalengka to Sabang.

He was then appointed as Director Sales & Distribution in PMI affiliate in Malaysia before he was asked to go back to Indonesia to prepare and implement a business plan.

Ivan added that the company provided an opportunity for any employees, irrespective of ethnic group, race, religion and cultural background, to get forward and realize their dream through training.

Sampoerna’s motto Anggada Paramita, which means toward perfection, served as a driving force to work hard, hone the skills of the existing talent so as to enable them to make innovations and have a positive impact, not only on Sampoerna but also on the economy and Indonesia, according to Ivan.

Thanks to Sampoerna’s proper human capital development policy, Indonesians are among the 1,500 scientists, technicians and health experts in Switzerland to conduct research and development for innovative smoke-free tobacco products. “Local talents are taking part in sharing their knowledge with their global peers at PMI R&D,” Ivan said.

Currently, Sampoerna also has two cutting-edge laboratories located in Karawang, West Java, and in Pasuruan, East Java.

Ivan highlighted the capability and potential that Indonesians have, pointing out “they are able as long as they are given access, an opportunity and trust through training or job rotation programs in various projects.”

Overseas assignments, one of the forms of Sampoerna’s human capital development, has enabled Indonesian talent to work everywhere, be it in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, The United Arab Emirates, Mexico, or the Philippines.

“Currently, Ibu Mimi Kurniawan serves as chief diversity officer at PMI because she, who comes from Indonesia whose motto is Unity in Diversity, knows a great deal about diversity issues,” he said.

Talent Development Center

Ivan further said that the human capital development undertaken by Sampoerna and PMI is the companies’ sustainable commitment to prioritizing employees’ competency development, which is reciprocal in nature.

“We make our best contribution to the organization and the organization will continue to develop and maximise the potential that we have. Sampoerna serves as a source of talent who we encourage to learn and improve themselves to enable them to work at Sampoerna’s or PMI’s affiliated representative offices,” he said.

Currently, Sampoerna itself is one of the Talent Development Centers for employees from other countries. “That makes us proud. We are proud that we have become part of a multinational organization in which Indonesian potential is as good as that from other countries,” he said.

Sampoerna’s human capital development also pays heed to the issue of gender balance as, according to Ivan, 46.03 percent of department heads and at director level are represented by women. “That’s the reason why Sampoerna can sustain for 111 years because whatever the problem is, there is always the right person that can answer the challenge because of the diversity and gender equality,” Ivan said.

Highlighting the multiplier effects, Ivan said that Sampoerna had developed 250,000 toko kelontong (traditional retailers) as its partners across Indonesia under the Sampoerna Retail Community (SRC) program by providing them with guidance and assistance to make breakthroughs that will eventually help them increase the competitive edge and elevate to a higher class.

The traditional retailers are mostly micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the backbone of Indonesia’s economy.

The 250,000 traditional retailers continue to thrive. “Imagine, 10 percent or 1 percent of them will grow, then this will have an incredible impact on the Indonesian economy,” he said.

This is not to mention Sampoerna’s 90,000 employees spread across 50 production facilities operated directly by the company and indirectly by its partners. “This is our endeavor to have a positive economic multiplier effect on the people,” he added.

For Sampoerna, scaling up the capacity of targeted human capital also includes its business partners involved in the supply chain and ecosystem, such as suppliers, farmers of clove and tobacco, retailers etc, not just internal employees in the company.

Ivan cited the Sampoerna Entrepreneurship Training Center (SETC) as another example of Sampoerna’s flagship program-related to the human capital development involving its partners, aside from the aforementioned SRC.

More than 72,000 MSME players have joined training on various business-related subjects, including product design, packaging, processing and so forth to enable them to become a good entrepreneur.

With the inevitable digital technology-driven changes, Sampoerna has also ensured that its partners, including MSME players, retailers and 22,000 farmers, that the company developed and assisted can remain afloat and continue their business.

For Ivan, developing human capital is, surely, imperative, as it is part of the pillars of Sampoerna’s long-established philosophy “Three Hands”, a guiding principle for business sustainability.

“We have a strong commitment to advance Indonesia together and to have beneficial effects on the public at large through human capital development,” Ivan concluded.

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