#WORK4

Hello guys, I want to tell you about the founder of AQUA.

TIRTO UTOMO

            Do you know aqua? It is a brand of bottled water from Indonesia. The founder of Aqua is Sien Biauw Kwa or Tirto Utomo. He is one of the successful businessman from Indonesia. He was born on March 8th, 1930 in Wonosobo. He has studied in Magelang for Junior High School. He reached the school by bicycle everyday. Then, he went to HBS School (Senior High School at the time of the Dutch East Indies). He had studied in Semarang for 2 years, before he moved to Malang. At this time, he met Kwee Gwat Kien or Lisa.

            Tirto Utomo has studied for 2 years at Gajah Mada University in Surabaya. He has worked as a journalist at “Jawa Pos Newspaper” during his study. Tirto eventually moved to the Faculty of Law in University of Indonesia. He was working as a Chief Editor of the Daily Sin Po and Five Colors Magazine when he studied at university. He also met Lisa in University of Indonesia. Lisa was also working at British American Tobacco (BAT Indonesia) when she studied. She dropped out from university, after she had failed on her final exam. In 1955, Lisa taught elementary students at Regina Pecis.

            Tirto Utomo and Lisa got married on December, 21th 1957 in Malang. The big problem came in 1959, Tirto dismissed from Sin Po as an editor. However, he had the willingness to finish his study from University of Indonesia. October 1960, Tirto graduated and hold a law of degree. After graduation, Tirto worked in Permina (Perusahaan Minyak Nasional). He was placed in “Pangkalan Brandan”. There, the daily need was using a water from river.

            Tirto Utomo got an idea to build Aqua when he was entertaining delegates from U.S. company.  The dinner was interrupted when the delegation’s wife had diarrhea caused by consuming water. Tirto realized that the guests from Western countries are not used to drinking boiled water, but water that has been sterilized. Tirto Utomo sure that Indonesian’s people will lack clean water ready to drink.

            Tirto and his brother have begun to learn how to process packaged drinking water since this incident. Tirto’s brother worked in Polaris (A bottled water company in Thailand) to learn how made a bottled water. So, In 1973 PT Aqua Golden Mississippi is built. Tirto Utomo already died in 1994. Tirto Utomo already make a manufacturer of bottled water which is the largest in Indonesia.