While he was born in Bone, he spent most of his early childhood in neighboring Barru where he lived for 7 years and first went to elementary school.

Later, he returned to Bone where he finished his first 12 years of basic education, graduating from a state-funded high school in Lappariaja in 1989.

He began his career as a head of field operations in a sugar factory in 1994, and was promoted 4 times throughout his first six years in the company, peaking as the chief of logistics.

[9] His ministry's target was set as self-sufficiency in 4 key food commodities i.e. rice, corn, soybeans and sugar within 3 years in addition to improvements of irrigation systems in 11 Indonesian provinces.

[12] On 25 October 2023, Sulaiman replaced the position left by Syahrul Yasin Limpo as Minister of Agriculture for being a corruption case suspect.