Jawa Pos boss named Entrepreneur of the Year

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Dahlan Iskan, the chief executive officer of the Jawa Pos publishing group, was named Indonesian Entrepreneur of the Year on Wednesday by United States-based consultancy firm Ernst & Young.

The panel of judges, comprising leading Indonesian professionals, had selected Dahlan "due to his extraordinary entrepreneurial vision and dedication, which has contributed to the growth of the Jawa Pos Group," the company said in a statement.

The award was presented at a gala dinner on Wednesday evening by Minister of Finance Boediono.

Dahlan started developing the business group when he took over a small local newspaper in 1984 that had a circulation of 6,800 just copies.

Today, Jawa Pos has become the leading newspaper in Surabaya with a circulation of 350,000, a 5,147 percent increase from the day Dahlan took it over.

Jawa Pos has also become the largest media network group in Indonesia with over 70 media publishing companies, one newspaper factory (PT Adiprima) and more than 20 printing companies, according to Ernst & Young.

As the Indonesian Entrepreneur of the Year 2001, Dahlan will join winners from around the globe at the World Entrepreneurs of the Year program in Monte Carlo in May 2002.

Apart from Dahlan, other awards were presented to Soedarpo Sastrosatomo from PT Samudra Indonesia Tbk as Master Entrepreneur of the Year; Retno Iswari S. Tranggono, a dermatologist from PT Ristra Indolab as Industry and Manufacturing Entrepreneur of the Year; Otto Toto Sugiri of PT Sigma Cipta Caraka as Services Entrepreneur of the Year, and Yusuf Sjarifuddin and Ishak Surjana from PT Jatis Solutions/Firium Solutions as Start-Up Entrepreneur of the Year.

The judging panel was chaired by Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas, president of PT Timah; Hadi Soesastro, executive director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS); Felia Salim, deputy chair of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), Sylvia-Marie Challita, senior executive of American Express Bank; and Harry Wiguna, director of the Jakarta Stock Exchange.

The Entrepreneur of the Year award was first introduced in the U.S. in 1986 by Ernst & Young, whose ingenuity and perseverance have created and sustained successful, growing business ventures. The program has been introduced to 23 countries on five continents.