Khouw Keng Nio

Khouw Keng Nio leaning against an airplane of the "Merbaboe" family business. Khouw Keng Nio was a colonial Chinese-Indonesian heiress and businesswoman, best known as the first woman in both Indonesia and China to become a licensed pilot.

Born in Java, Dutch East Indies, Khouw came from a wealthy Peranakan business family.

When her brother died in a plane accident in Batavia in 1938, Khouw Keng Nio took over the reins of N.V. Merbaboe. Under her tutelage, the company maintained its headquarters in Batavia, but expanded, opening branches in Bogor, Bandung and Sukabumi. Her company employed over 300 workers, and slaughtered between 75 and 80 cows daily to meet the needs of around 40,000 consumers, extending from hotels and restaurants to the colonial shipping fleet and army. Her yearly tax bill amounted to the extraordinary sum of f. 100,000.