Asia Entrepreneur Awards for Affordable Housing Development : Mr. Benny Tjokrosaputro
President, PT. Hanson International Tbk, Indonesia
Mr. Benny Tjokrosaputro, is the grandson of the founder of the Batik Keris chain of batik outlets, Kasoem Tjokrosaputro. He graduated with majoring in Economics from Trisakti University in 1991. Mr. Benny Tjokrosaputro has been the President Director of PT Hanson International Tbk since 2014 and he serves as President Director of PT Armidian Karyatama DAN.
The first project he was involved in was the 400ha Solo Baru, a 10,000-house family project on the edge of Solo, in 1994. The area is now one of the swankier parts of the city. After 30 years in the housing industry, he is better known as a property entrepreneur, under the company Hansonland. Benny’s company PT Hanson International listed in 1990 and today sports a market capitalization of Rp 10 trillion. One of his specialties is affordable housing for low income families. “It’s a social enterprise project. There are about 2 million families living in the greater Jakarta that still don’t have permanent places to stay. Maybe the profit margin is small but we see low cost housing as having good prospects,” says Benny, chief executive of Hanson International.
He argues that despite the current fast rise in land prices, it’s still possible to market houses at a very low price of Rp 120 million per unit, much lower than other so-called low cost housing that will still start at Rp 300 million. One reason he can be more competitive is that his company has built a land bank for the last 19 years at much lower prices.
Benny has allocated 2,400 ha for about 160,000 units in Maja Raya of Majaland, a project launched in cooperation with property conglomerate Ciputra last October. Besides Majaland, Benny has also developed a number of projects such as 2,600 units in Serpongland, a settlement for upper-middle-class buyers launched last June. Also in Tangerang, he is building Cengkareng Land, a project near Soekarno-Hatta Airport. Another current project is in the Bekasi industrial area.
