Who Is Eka Tjipta Widjaja Conglomerate Founder Of Sinarmas Group With Assets Of IDR139 Trillion: Used To Boost Bimoli Cooking Oil Brand, Now Rely On Filma And Kunci Mas

Conglomerate Eka Tjipta Widjaja. (Photo: Doc. Forbes)

JAKARTA - Have you ever fried food with Bimoli oil? Or enjoying your time at FX Sudirman Jakarta? Or maybe you are using the Smartfren provider as a cellular card on your device?

If true, then the reader is one of the consumers of the Sinar Mas Group, a giant conglomerate that was started by the late Eka Tjipta Widjaja. Some of the trademarks mentioned earlier are only a few of his many business empires.

Eka Tjipta started his business activities decades ago, to be precise in 1968 when he founded the coconut oil factory CV Bitung Manado Oil Limited alias Bimoli. The business survives, even thrives.

After successfully raising the Bimoli brand, in the 1990s the cooking oil was switched to another tycoon, namely Anthony Salim. On the other hand, Eka Tjipta chose to concentrate on polishing the Filma brand in order to be able to compete with Bimoli.

Business octopus

Right in 1976, Eka Tjipta began to diversify his business by building the Tjiwi Kimia factory, a company engaged in the chemical sector.

From here, the money that is obtained does not stop. He finally decided to buy a 10,000-hectare oil palm plantation, machinery, and a 60,000-tonne capacity factory in Riau in the early 1980s.

With so much money, Eka Tjipta decided to have his own bank. He bought Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) in 1982 which is the forerunner of today's Maybank Indonesia.

Sinar Mas Group's expansion is increasingly unstoppable. Octopus business continues to spread to all lines. The editor noted that several sectors were being explored, such as property, insurance, telecommunications, to education services.

As a result, the Widjaja family has been named one of the richest in Indonesia. Based on the Forbes report at the end of 2021, it was stated that this clan was ranked second in the list of the richest people in the Republic of Indonesia with an estimated assets of 9.7 billion US dollars or equivalent to Rp. 139.2 trillion. Fantastic!

Many believe Eka Tjipta's hockey is in Bimoli cooking oil. This brand has made him one of the most successful conglomerates with a fairly strong market dominance, even though Sinarmas now relies on the Filma and Kunci Mas brands.

Now, cooking oil is the most sought after food item by the public due to 'crazy' price fluctuations and the lack of stock in the market. Will the next generation of Sinar Mas Group be able to make the late Eka Tjipta Widjaja smile in his rest? Only time that can answer.