3 min readNew DelhiMar 11, 2026 05:41 PM IST
Stories of people rising from modest beginnings to extraordinary wealth, or how we say rags to riches, never fail to fascinate. In the latest Hurun Global Rich List 2026, one such journey stands out, that of Prajogo Pangestu, now the richest person in Indonesia. Today, Pangestu’s fortune is estimated at $49 billion (around Rs 4.51 lakh crore), but his early life looked nothing like that of a typical billionaire.
Long before he built a business empire, Pangestu worked humble jobs to support himself. As a young man in Indonesia, he tapped rubber trees alongside his father and later drove a local minibus to make ends meet. Decades later, the same man now ranks as the world’s 38th richest person, according to the Hurun list.
Pangestu’s wealth has surged rapidly in recent years. His net worth has jumped 107 per cent from about $25 billion, helping him climb 11 spots on the 2026 Hurun Global Rich List. Much of that wealth comes from his stake in Barito Pacific Group, the conglomerate he founded. It has grown into one of Indonesia’s most important industrial businesses.
Headquartered in Jakarta, Barito Pacific operates across petrochemicals and power generation. The group’s petrochemical arm, Chandra Asri Petrochemical, is the largest of its kind in Indonesia, while the company also holds energy assets including the geothermal firm Star Energy. Barito Pacific reported revenue of about $2.4 billion in 2024, and Pangestu remains its controlling shareholder with roughly 71 per cent ownership.
Yet his rise began far from corporate boardrooms. Born in 1944 in Sambas, Indonesia, Pangestu grew up in a family that relied on farming latex from rubber trees for a living. Financial pressures forced him to leave school early. Hoping to find work, he moved to Jakarta, but the attempt did not go as planned, and he eventually returned home, as per Bloomberg.
Back in his hometown, Pangestu drove public transport and tried his hand at small businesses with friends, selling shrimp paste and salted fish. His big break came in 1969 when he entered the timber industry through businessman Burhan Uray and his company, PT Djajanti Group.
By 1976, Pangestu had worked his way up to become general manager of the factory at PT Plywood Nusantara in East Java. But he soon decided to strike out on his own. About a year later, he bought a small company called CV Pacific Lumber Company and renamed it PT Barito Pacific Lumber Company, laying the foundation for what would become his business empire.
Story continues below this ad
Over the following decades, Pangestu steadily expanded the company beyond timber, moving into industries such as pulp and paper, hospitality, and eventually energy and petrochemicals. In 1993, the firm went public in Indonesia and later shortened its name to Barito Pacific.
Today, Pangestu’s journey, from rubber plantations and driving minibuses to building a multibillion-dollar conglomerate, has earned him a prominent place on the Hurun list. In a ranking often dominated by tech entrepreneurs and inherited fortunes, his story stands out as a reminder that some of the world’s biggest fortunes still begin from very humble roots.
