Business Career
Rupert served his business apprenticeship in New York, where he worked for Chase Manhattan for two years and for Lazard Freres for three years. He then returned to South Africa in 1979 and founded Rand Merchant Bank of which he was CEO. He started the Small Business Development Corporation in same year (over 600,000 jobs created since inception).
- 1984: Merged RMB and Rand Consolidated Investments, and left to join his father's company, the Rembrandt Group.
- 1988 Founded Compagnie Financiere Richemont in 1988 and was appointed Non-Executive Director of Rothmans International plc in 1988. He was elected “Businessman of the Year” by the Sunday Times in the same year.
- 1989: Appointed Vice Chairman of the Rembrandt Group.
- 1990: Elected by Die Burger newspaper and the Cape Town Chamber of Commerce as the business leader of the year. He also formed the Vendôme Luxury Group SA.
- 1991: Appointed Chairman of Rembrandt Group Limited and in 1992 he was elected one of 200 "Global Leaders of Tomorrow" by the World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland.
- 1993: Received the M.S. Louw Award by the A.H.I. ("Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut").
- 1996: Elected Sunday Times Business Times's Businessman of the Year for second time.
- 1997: Appointed Non-Executive Chairman of Gold Fields South Africa Ltd.
- 1999: Awarded the 1999 Free Market Award by The Free Market Foundation of South Africa.
- 2000: Restructured Rembrandt Group Limited and formed Remgro Limited and VenFin Limited. Appointed Chairman and Chief Executive of Compagnie Financière Richemont SA. Voted “Most influential Business Leader” in South Africa by CEO’s of top 100 Listed Companies
- 2000: Awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Economics by the University of Stellenbosch.
- 2008 Voted South Africa's Business Leader of the Year by the CEO's of the Top 100 Companies, for the third time.
- 2009 Appointed “Officier” of the French “Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur” by the President of the French Republic
- Selected as the 2009 International Wine Entrepreneur of the Year at the Meininger “Excellence in Wine and Spirit” awards ceremony in Düsseldorf, Germany.
- Recipient of the WITS Business School Management Excellence Award.
- 2009: Elected Chancellor of Stellenbosch University
- 2010 Made Honorary Vice President of the European Golf Tour
- Awarded Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws by The university of St. Andrews, Scotland
- 2010 Voted South Africa's most admired Business Leader
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