An extraordinary investment from Tandean Rustandy will help Booth tackle complex social and environmental problems.
- May 15, 2017
- Booth Donors
A $20 million gift from Tandean Rustandy, ’07, will support expanded research and programming in social innovation and entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago through the newly named Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation.
Christina Hachikian:
Tandean Rustandy's $20 million gift supports social impact at Chicago Booth and establishes the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation. This gift is important, not just for Booth, but because of what it means for our ability to scale solutions to the world's most entrenched challenges. The Rustandy Center is the destination for people solving complex social and environmental problems. Whether you're supplying light to communities in crisis like LuminAID or bringing accessible yoga to neighborhoods affected by poverty and violence like YogaCare, the Rustandy Center can help you do your work better.
Van Jones:
Pre-business school, I thought a business is only one way and that's focusing on profit. Interacting with the Rustandy Center, I was able to build a company, Hello Tractor, that is able to transform the lives of smallholder farmers across the continent, providing them access to tractor service that they never would've had before. This transforms not only their lives, the farmer's lives, but the lives of their entire family and it transforms food security across the continent as well.
Evan Trent:
Through the Alumni Board Connect program at the Rustandy Center, I was matched with an organization called Open Books. So probably the most exciting part of being involved with the board at Open Books is that all of your work and contributions end up putting more books in the hands of more children and turning more children in Chicago onto the joy of reading at an early age than ever before.
Maria Kim:
As a Booth alum and the CEO of Cara, which is an organization that helps folks affected by poverty get back to work and to do it in a community surrounded by people who have their back and want them to rise up, I believe that research-based insights would be transformative to our work, no doubt, but imagine what it would be like if we could take those insights and plug them into a larger discourse, not just around the country but around the world.
Christina Hachikian:
Those of us working in the social sector believe that the solutions to the world's most entrenched problems already exist. It's just a matter of getting them to scale. When you think about the knowledge of the people working on these problems on the ground, the way that could be combined with insights from research coming out of the university of Chicago and Chicago Booth, that combination is unstoppable. That is the promise of the Rustandy Center.
The Rustandy Center will serve as a hub at UChicago’s Booth School of Business for students and faculty tackling complex social and environmental problems, building on the school’s grounding in business fundamentals, experiential learning and research-based insights. The center will work with nonprofit, for-profit and government organizations, serving as a resource for the University community as well as nonprofit leaders, social entrepreneurs and others committed to social impact. The center, previously known as Chicago Booth’s Social Enterprise Initiative, has been renamed in recognition of Rustandy’s generosity and its expanded mission.
The generosity of Tandean Rustandy will help to expand research, training and support in this emerging area for years to come.
“The Rustandy Center will provide a rigorous setting for students, faculty and colleagues to confront pressing challenges through social enterprise and innovation. The generosity of Tandean Rustandy will help to expand research, training and support in this emerging area for years to come,” President Robert J. Zimmer said.
Rustandy’s gift comes as the center is developing an increasingly ambitious approach to research that informs best practices in organizations geared toward social impact. It will build upon successful programs such as the John Edwardson, ’72, Social New Venture Challenge, training programs for nonprofit board members, and research that advances social innovation and entrepreneurship.
I don’t believe in companies that just exist to make a profit. A company should also serve and guide people.
For Rustandy, the gift offers another opportunity to use his business success to make a positive impact. After completing his undergraduate degree in the U.S. in 1987, Rustandy returned to his native Indonesia and worked in the timber industry. But he left the position after just three years, finding the company’s vision and mission didn’t align with his ideals.
“I don’t believe in companies that just exist to make a profit. A company should also serve and guide people,” said Rustandy, who is a member of the Chicago Booth Council and Booth Global Advisory Board Asia cabinet.
Rustandy is the founder of Jakarta, Indonesia-based PT Arwana Citramulia Tbk, one of the best-performing ceramic tile manufacturing companies in world. His belief in a socially beneficial approach to business was the driving force behind Rustandy’s decision to support UChicago and help advance the future of Chicago Booth’s social impact research and programs.
The Rustandy Center will advance social innovation in five areas:
“As one of the most successful alumni of our Executive MBA Program in Asia, Tandean was able to apply his Booth MBA education to expanding his already successful business. This most generous commitment from Tandean will secure the future of Booth’s social enterprise activities,” said Doug Skinner, Chicago Booth interim dean and Eric J. Gleacher Distinguished Service Professor of Accounting. “Our students and alumni are becoming increasingly interested in using their business training to solve social problems, and the Rustandy Center will serve as the venue for all of our efforts in this area.”
Because many organizations focused on solving social and environmental problems lack the necessary resources to address these issues, the Rustandy Center will assist nonprofits to recruit and train effective board members; help students and alumni pursue meaningful careers in the social sector; and share lessons from research and experts.
This most generous commitment from Tandean will secure the future of Booth’s social enterprise activities.
“I’ve been blessed by God so what I have I need to give back – and I want to give to an institution that can create so much – not just for the U.S. but for all the world. That is why I want to give this gift to the University of Chicago and to Booth,” Rustandy said.
This story first appeared on the UChicago News site on May 22, 2017. Click here to read Chicago Booth’s announcement of this gift.
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