While pursuing an economics degree at Gadjah Mada University, Bambang Ismawan found that he was interested in neither business nor politics, and wanted to identify with something more meaningful. He has been involved in Bina Swadaya’s formation and growth for the past 40 years, and has developed a proven track record of successful partnerships with government, NGOs and businesses. His philosophy of promoting self-reliance within Bina Swadaya’s self-help groups drives the strategic development of the organization. He invests a large portion of his time on developing the leadership capabilities of the organization. The fact that several employees have grown with Bina Swadaya for more than 30 years is a strong testimony to his ability to empower and cultivate leaders within the organization. 

For decades Bina Swadaya has focused on the socio-economic development of Indonesia’s rural poor and their communities, by directly empowering them through education and training. To address the strong demand for agricultural education and knowledge dissemination, Bina Swadaya formed a publishing business and started Trubus, an agricultural magazine that is currently a market leader on the subject. Building on the success of this publication, Bina Swadaya then leveraged its printing infrastructure to enter into other diverse publication segments like gardening, health issues, language, education, lifestyle, children, religion, and vocational and small business skills. To date it has published approximately 1,500 agricultural book titles and 2,300 titles in other areas.