Anton Rupert

"‘Use the best machinery you can buy. Keep a close watch on every form of waste. Advertise to ensure good sales, which cuts down the costs of distribution and advertising on every packet of cigarettes sold. Spend money on research to give your customers the best value for money. Get there before the other fellow.’2"

"He started studying companies that were depression-proof and found that, worldwide, tobacco companies were among the most successful. These included the major companies in the USA, such as RJ Reynolds, Lorillard, American Tobacco and Liggett & Myers. He also studied companies in Spain, Italy, Japan and China. In France, the state monopoly Seita owned famous brands such as Gauloises and Gitanes. Tobacco companies in the United Kingdom included Player, British-American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco, whose chairman, Lord Winterstoke, head of the Wills family, was the richest man in Britain in 1901 after Cecil John Rhodes, who had made his fortune in South Africa."

"The new company’s association with Cartier, described as the ‘jeweller of kings and the king of jewellers’ by the Duke of Windsor, the former Edward VIII of Britain before his abdication in 1936, attracted Rupert’s attention as he reviewed their latest acquisitions. Among affluent clients worldwide the name Cartier was legendary. It was an old, established firm with a rich tradition, the kind of business that appealed strongly to Rupert. The Paris firm was established in 1847 by Louis-François Cartier. When the Empress Eugénie, consort of Napoleon III, ordered a silver tea service from him he was made. In 1874 his son Alfred succeeded him as head of Cartier. Cartier’s premises moved in 1899 to Paris’s most fashionable shopping area, the Rue de la Paix, where the shop is still a beacon to tourists. In 1904 Cartier was granted a royal warrant of supplier to the Court of St James by King Edward VII of England. A string of other royal houses followed his example, including those of Spain, Portugal, Russia, Siam, Greece, Belgium and Egypt, as well as the House of Orléans and the principality of Monaco. Celebrities and multimillionaires from all over the world bought their jewellery, watches and valuables from Cartier."

"It was also Rupert who came up with the name for the ground coffee. ‘When you think of coffee, what springs to mind?’ he asked Entek’s directors. ‘I think of a bearded old man in a leather armchair puffing at his pipe and drinking coffee!’ Thus the name Senator was born. The name Frisco for their instant coffee also held great appeal for consumers. ‘The name itself evokes the impression of something quick, don’t you agree?’ René Morkel said in an interview with an English magazine that published a highly positive article about the origins of the women’s company a quarter of a century later."

"The German campaign linked the notion of pleasure with international travel. It was enthusiastically promoted by Fritz Bühler, a marketing expert from Basle appointed by Reemtsma to design a dynamic German version of the ‘international passport’ theme. He encapsulated it in the slogan ‘Der Duft der grossen weiten Welt’ (The aroma of the great wide world). It was dead right for Germany. Here was a nation hemmed in by other countries on all sides, with only a short coastline in the north. For their holidays they poured across their borders. ‘As an escape from unpleasant wartime memories and the unpleasant past, Peter Stuyvesant conveyed to young and old the idea of easily achievable affluence and hope beyond their borders,’ relates Rupert. Aeroplanes became a regular feature of Stuyvesant ads at a time when air travel was little more than a dream to impoverished Germans."

"‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way – the will itself becomes the way.’"

"In 1949, when Rembrandt made its first profit after initial losses, Rupert as chairman and Patrick O’Neill-Dunne, their marketing advisor from Rothmans, each became entitled to 2,5% of Rembrandt’s net profit. Rupert told the board that he wanted it to devote his share to good causes."

"‘My friend, you can teach a man many things, but you can’t teach him morality.’"

"Barely a month after the signing of the contract in America the new product was launched successfully on the Rand (the industrial heartland of South Africa) on 11 August 1954, backed by a massive advertising campaign in various media. At the planning meeting held fourteen days before, Rupert’s message had been brief and to the point: ‘The question is who is going to be first.’ Eighteen years later, in 1972, Rupert observed that, for all the money, technology and factories at their disposal today, they could never achieve what they did in those few hectic weeks in 1954"

"Rupert went further. He threatened the secretary for trade and industry that he would close the factory in Paarl if he did not get his rightful quota. He also proposed sending girls in Voortrekker dresses to demonstrate at the opening of parliament, carrying posters with the slogan, ‘Quotas are killing us!’ and to picket there for up to a year. His threats caused quite a hubbub in government circles, supposedly well disposed towards Afrikaner business, and proposals were invited. These led to the introduction of a far more flexible system and the eventual abolition of quotas. Henceforth manufacturers could submit their own assessment of their requirements, which would then be adjusted up- or downwards twice a year, depending on their output in the preceding six months. The battle was won at last, and the increased ability to compete served as a further boost to Rembrandt."

"Rupert asked him to investigate the possibility of finding a master brewer in war-shattered Germany who was looking for a future abroad. Steyn set about his inquiries methodically. In 1947 he approached a number of contacts in Germany, asking them if they could put him in touch with: a Munich brewery willing to open a branch in South Africa controlled by South African shareholders; a Munich master brewer willing to emigrate to South Africa with his family and undertake the technical management of a brewery; and a master owner-brewer of a small Munich brewery who would come with his family and all the necessary machinery, to start a new factory from scratch. Despite interest from German brewers, nothing came of these tentative moves as there were problems on the South African side with the realisation of plans to establish a brewery. Steyn was requested to keep the German connection alive for some time, although with the warning that, as a brewery would have to be built up in South Africa from scratch, it would take at least two years before beer could be produced. Meanwhile Rupert concentrated on the tobacco industry."

"This plunged the fledgling company into crisis. The ironic consequence was a further far-reaching initiative, an inventive solution conceptualised by Rupert: to launch a new investment company, Tegniese en Industriële Beleggings Beperk (TIB, Technical and Industrial Investments Limited), that could strengthen its capital base through the sale of shares. The start of TIB was financed by the sale of the dry-cleaning business Chemiese Reinigers. That was when Dirk Hertzog, Rupert’s old friend and first business partner, joined the board of Voorbrand. Rupert threw himself into the campaign to sell shares in the new company, thus raising the necessary capital to buy back not only the 2 000 FVB shares, but those of Kopersbond as well. When FVB was dissolved years later, those 2 000 shares were worth more than all its assets. With the blessing of Voorbrand’s board, Rupert was allowed to place shares in TIB. The establishment of TIB gave the first indications that Rupert was starting to move. The investment company was to lay the foundations for one of the most spectacular expansions in South African industry, the House of Rembrandt."

"‘Our basic philosophy is that we have three levels of responsibility, namely to our shareholders, to our staff, and to the community in which we operate.’ On occasion he added: ‘Now my biggest fun in life has been the third one – my biggest pleasure.’ This was the other side of Rupert the entrepreneur – his community involvement that was expressed in philanthropy. Not just giving away money because he had plenty of it, but philanthropy based on his all-absorbing outlook on life − personal, business, cultural, civic life − in partnership with others. With the advent of globalisation the notion of strategic alliances has become commonplace."

"Paul Kruger’s farewell message: ‘Take from the past that which is good and use it to build the future.’ Kruger might be considered conservative, Rupert pointed out, but he had also been progressive: he had awarded a medal to the first person who brought a motorcar to the Transvaal; he floated above Paris in a balloon; he bought the first submarine patent in the world. ‘It would therefore be much better to put the emphasis on “building the future” – or, as I would like to put it: “Use the past as a springboard to the future, not as a sofa.”’"

"Early in the group’s development it was decided to spend part of the profits on what he later described as a partnership between ‘Capital and Culture’, ‘Capital and Art’, and ‘Capital and Sport’."

"‘As I see it, the modern company has three responsibilities, namely to its shareholders, to its staff, and to the society from which its success derives and within which it operates.’ ‘You are the judges,’ he told the shareholders, ‘but if all of you were as grateful for the contribution we can make to the community as I am, I’d be more than satisfied.’"

"Even before he found himself in the minefield of South African politics, Rupert, always on the lookout for alternative possibilities, started eyeing the beer industry soon after he had entered the liquor industry in 1945. In the midst of developing and consolidating his wine and spirit interests and expanding his tobacco empire, he managed to make some exploratory moves in this tantalising field. The challenge lay in the daunting competition any newcomer would face in a highly competitive market dominated by South African Breweries (SAB)."

"In September 1943 he and one of his co-directors, Coenie (Oupa) Kriel, started making inquiries. In October they travelled to Paarl in the Western Cape where they met Canzius Pretorius, accountant of the Koöperatiewe Wynbouersvereniging (KWV). He advised them that the only way to enter the liquor industry would be to buy a Cape company, Forrer Brothers. With the aid of the company auditor, Roux van der Poel, they negotiated the purchase of a 50% interest for £17 500."

"That was the situation Rupert found when he started his inquiries about the Cartier brand in which Rothmans had acquired an interest. The brand in question was registered under class 34 of the International Brand Classification, the category that included tobacco, smokers’ accessories and matches, and turned out to be a world-famous cigarette lighter. It was the elegant, oval-shaped luxury cigarette lighter that Robert Hocq, the inventor of gas cigarette lighters, had licensed under Cartier’s banner. In time this invention revolutionised the luxury goods industry. The new recipe of combining functionality with luxury caused a turnabout in the cosy, exclusive world of the coterie of prominent luxury goods houses."

"‘We are so interdependent that a lack of trust in one part of our subcontinent affects everybody in the other parts. If we want investments from elsewhere, we have to push each other up the economic ladder. If we pull down those ahead of us, we shall all fall together.’"

"The chemistry student – who with a personal investment of a mere £10 started a worldwide group of companies that would make him a world-famous entrepreneur – is linked to some of the best-known international trademarks, the foundation on which his business empire is built. From Cartier, the ‘king of jewellers and the jeweller of kings’, to the luxury goods of Alfred Dunhill, from Mont Blanc’s stylish writing instruments to the oldest Swiss watchmakers, all fall under Richemont, the international arm of the Rupert umbrella. It was preceded by the establishment of a global chain of tobacco interests under the banner of Rembrandt and Rothmans, as well as the production of the most famous South African wines and spirits."

"•Hard work. ‘We believe that success is achieved by those who produce that extra bit, and that 24 hours in a day are actually not enough.’ •The concept that ‘He who does not believe in miracles is not a realist’. ‘Without this firm belief it would have been impossible to make a breakthrough in a strongly competitive market.’ •New approach. ‘While we realise that the tobacco industry has a rich tradition, we also know that half of today’s industrial products had been totally unknown 25 years ago. We therefore concentrated purposefully on producing innovative and improved products in the world of tobacco through research.’ •A balanced perspective, ‘based on the understanding that the current fiscal policy in most countries makes if difficult, if not impossible, for the young entrepreneur to make a meaningful contribution to the general welfare.’"

"Both Rupert’s bothers would follow him to the Rembrandt Group. The three brothers in the tobacco industry have been compared to the three brothers Reemtsma in Germany and the three brothers Reynolds in the USA, who built up the biggest cigarette factories in their respective countries."

"The challenge we now face is to continue to beat our opposition, but we have the strength which is inherent in the trademark. We can sell items at hundreds of dollars or millions – none of our rivals have that depth of reserves. We have.’"

"further component of his partnership policy was the structure of the group: not rigidly hierarchical, but decentralised, with responsibilities where they belong. And, stated Rupert, ‘where we deviated from this, it was to our detriment."

"‘As colleagues of Dr Rupert, young and old, we were also standing on the shoulders of a giant, and that was the reason why we could perhaps see further than those who had not been exposed to his exceptional leadership . . . He had the ability to broaden people’s horizons, not only in respect of the things in which he involved one, but also because of the knowledge and experience he shared so readily. Working for him was not a job, it was an experience.’"

"free enterprise was not merely about wealth creation for its own sake. It made the development of full human potential possible. Besides wealth, the free enterprise system ensured a number of other rights: the right to own property, the right to choose a vocation according to one’s own preference and ability, the right to choose one’s own lifestyle, the right to freedom of association and the right to freedom of movement."

"people who could not list both the advantages and disadvantages of a policy, viewpoint or strategy had not yet learnt to think creatively. In fact, at Rembrandt they kept a ‘black book’ in which employees had to record the pros and cons of proposals. According to Rupert the book was ‘famous’ to some employees, ‘notorious’ to others. ‘You quickly fall victim to tunnel vision if your brain can’t think pro and con,’ he said. ‘If someone asks me a question, my brain works in terms of pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages. Only then can you take decisions.’"

"In addition to job creation, he attributed other major advantages to the small business enterprise: it was flexible and readily adaptable to changing circumstances; it was conducive to innovation, in that personal initiative was not stifled by management; entrepreneurs were free to take risks in their own interest, which made the small business enterprise a bulwark against socialism; and it contributed to the stability and social welfare of communities – in remote rural areas it often constituted the only source of employment, hence it counteracted the fragmentation of communities."

"‘I have often thanked Providence for things I didn’t get when I wanted them.’"

"John Rupert impressed on him the importance of meticulous attention to detail, a virtue that Anton was to inculcate in his own children and employees in later life. He also taught him to be wary of praise: ‘Today they shout hosanna, tomorrow they crucify you.’ A compliment, he added, entailed responsibility: you had to live up to it. Among the values John Rupert imparted to his son was the importance of honesty and being true to one’s word."

"Rupert’s conviction that such people had no respect for wine was a major reason why he started promoting estate wines, and why he wanted the wine farmers to receive the honour due to them. His first estate wines were from the farms Montpellier, Theuniskraal and Alto. He also introduced the French and German custom of appellation contrôlée in South Africa, that is, labelling wines as products of a specific estate and its vineyards."

"They knew money could do a lot of good but it could also be the cause of great evil. ‘It is like a rope: it can be used as a lifeline to save a drowning person, or as a noose to hang someone. That is money. It talks.’"

"The 1960s were a period of consolidation as well as expansion of Rupert’s tobacco and cigarette interests. The takeover of Carreras and Rothmans led to expansion in other parts of the world. Using Rothmans as his flagship, he created a stir with his philosophy of industrial partnership in various countries where he embarked on new initiatives. Partnership companies were established on a bilateral basis in Australia and New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Canada, Jamaica, Northern and Southern Rhodesia (now Zambia and Zimbabwe) and Nyassaland (now Malawi) − eventually even beyond the Iron Curtain in Russia and China."

"In the starting years Rupert not only sold shares with great enthusiasm, but also bought shares out of his own salary in the Rembrandt Trust, the holding company of the Rembrandt Group. Rembrandt Tabakkorporasie was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1956 and, like TIB and Tegkor, it became an investment of a lifetime."

"The calibre of the people involved also indicated a tendency that would characterise later, also foreign boards of directors of the Rembrandt Group: Rupert could draw together able associates around him."

"‘It is very simple and I try to teach it to my children: when you walk on the beach at Hermanus and you see the sand that stretches for miles, you realise that the human being is nothing more than a grain of sand . . . But always remember, the other person is also nothing more than a grain of sand. Then you can never be conceited. You are humble, but you will never lack confidence. This is to me the basic concept that has sustained our small group of people who started and those who are sitting here today, to the point where we are one of the biggest groups in the world at present. You yourself are nothing, but the other people are no more than you.’"

"he came to the conclusion that an entrepreneur keen on entering the business world should concentrate on products that would sell even during a depression. And if any two products were depression proof, they were liquor and tobacco."

"‘You are going to marry a leader of people, a man of whom we expect much. Decide early on that you want to be his helpmate. Someone must keep the home fires burning.’"

"In 1999 Rupert pointed out that shares of R1 000 in the Rembrandt Group bought in 1948 would be worth R17 million, not counting the dividends. In 2002 it was calculated that the first shareholders who bought shares of R1 000 would have earned a spectacular sum of more than R30 million, if the value of Remgro, Venfin and Richemont is included. Rembrandt has made many people millionaires with shares that have increased 3 000 000% in value. In a welcoming letter signed by Rupert that was sent to each new shareholder in the early years, he asked people ‘not to sell your shares lightly. Conserve them for your children.’ He heeded his own prophetic advice, and others who did likewise also reaped the benefits."

"Rupert’s exceptional emphasis on quality was to become a supreme feature of the Rembrandt Group."

"On the evening of Wednesday 18 November 1953 Rupert met AD (Lens) Wassenaar, general manager of the insurance company Sanlam, in the old Carlton Hotel in Johannesburg. He asked Wassenaar if Sanlam could help with a loan: he needed £750 000 to close the transaction, and at once. It had been the managing director of the Sanlam Group, Dr Louw, who had taken receipt of Rembrandt’s first cigarette at the Paarl factory five years previously."

"Rupert pointed out the dominant position of UTC and the control this company could exert over wholesale and retail traders as well as publicity and advertising space. He came to the conclusion that the answer was advertising. More and more advertising at every level, by every means, was an essential expenditure and one of the cornerstones of success.9 This conviction stayed with him, culminating in the sophisticated advertising and marketing approach with which he would build an international reputation."

"The caption of a drawing in the group’s offices depicting the race between the hare and the tortoise read: ‘It’s the last ten paces that count’."

"‘Our packaging was simply not good enough,’ Rupert recalls. ‘Our competitors were established manufacturers, they could make beautiful plastic packets with a lead lining and foam rubber on the inside.’ His eventual obsession with packaging and marketing stems from that early experience."

"He crossed over to the new company at the time of the merger, when Voorbrand’s production assets and brand names were transferred to Rembrandt for a sum of £70 000. Voorbrand shareholders obtained a share in Rembrandt, which still continued to process pipe tobacco. Rupert himself was authorised to apply for shares of £70 000 in Rembrandt."

"He approached two friends of his, first Mrs Hobbie le Roux of Oudtshoorn and later Mrs René Morkel of Stellenbosch, and suggested they launch a tea and coffee factory. They would receive the same treatment as all his business partners. He would show them the ropes, give them his support. But it would be their baby. That was how Entek was born. Share capital of £1 million was raised. Each shareholder had to buy at least £100 worth of shares and she had to be a woman: men could only buy shares in their wives’ names. The company was floated with 1 362 shareholders, all resident in South Africa and what is now Namibia and all of them female − either individuals or women’s organisations. The only exception was Rembrandt Tabakkorporasie, which contributed the £50 000 needed to buy out Holland-Afrika Koffiemaatskappy and Ceylon Tea Packers. Entek was registered in Pretoria and on 22 April 1955 it was incorporated into the Rembrandt Group."

"TIB was registered on 16 March 1943 and would eventually develop into a company with diversified interests in tobacco, liquor, coal mines, wool brokers, tea and coffee. Contrary to what is sometimes told in business circles, Rupert already started to diversify at a very early stage in his career."

"The women’s company’s first products were Braganza Tea, Tendertee Tips and Senator Coffee, later followed by Frisco instant coffee. According to René Morkel, the names mainly came from Rupert. He proposed Braganza for the tea, recalling the Portuguese princess Catharina da Braganza who had married Charles II of England in 1662 and popularised tea at the royal court and in the West. The label on the packet depicted her presenting the king with a chest of tea. This was a typical Rupert touch: a product had to have a ‘personality and an address’, and be linked to a story sales people could tell."

"Despite Rembrandt’s increasing competitive edge and a rise in demand that necessitated extensions to the factory in Paarl, Rupert was aware of the fact that a price war could damage his group. He decided to extend his operations overseas in order to build up profitable new markets, and in the process also came up with innovations that left competitors behind and changed people’s smoking patterns internationally."

"Marketing, and especially advertising, would become a major power source for the Rembrandt Group. Rupert was ahead of his contemporaries in grasping the realities of post-war capitalism. Where they still concentrated mainly on production, he put a new emphasis on marketing."

"His maxim was a golden rule: ‘Advertising can never be simple, sincere and repetitive enough.’"

"Rembrandt’s financial statement at the end of the first year showed a loss of £63 000. Rupert has described it as ‘the most critical time in my life’. Yet he did not lose his nerve. ‘In times of crisis I am always calm.’16 The following year Rembrandt registered a profit of £104 000. Rupert denied that it was all merit: 99% was sweat, the rest was plain luck − factors beyond their control. But it was a turning-point just the same. After that they never looked back."

"So the family remained in Stellenbosch and in 1963 the Rembrandt Group bought Fleur du Cap estate as a guesthouse. Over the years the visitors’ book of Rupert’s guests who were hosted there came to resemble an international who’s who: Dutch, British and Basotho royalty; heads of government like Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair; cabinet ministers like Caspar Weinberger and Henry Kissinger; business people like David Rockefeller and Edmund de Rothschild; politicians like Sen. Edward Kennedy, and"

"Rupert distinguishes innovative ideas and innovative products as two of the main reasons for the Rembrandt Group’s success. His innovative thinking was not just limited to the business sphere."

"Five years after its humble start in the old mill in Paarl Rembrandt controlled a substantial part of the South African cigarette market. But this did not satisfy Rupert. He did not underestimate his competitors; he could see the risks of a price war."

"He was never happy about ordinary filter-tipped cigarettes, sensing that smokers subconsciously felt they were being short-changed, since the filter replaced some of the tobacco. So he came up with a brand-new idea: a king-size filter-tipped cigarette. He summoned his chief technician and gave him an ultimatum: within 30 days − not 90! − he had to modify the machines to produce the new format."

"In 1961 Rupert moved into the former Federation of Northern and Southern Rhodesia and Nyassaland (Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi), where he had to operate via Britain because of South African exchange-control regulations. That same year he formed a partnership company in Malaysia. Two years later be bought Sullana in Switzerland and formed a partnership in Ireland, which became the largest factory in that country. In the Netherlands he obtained a share in Schimmelpenninck cigars."

"In effecting loans with which he financed his expanding business empire, he started following a practice that would yield great dividends in the long run. When money was needed for expansion or whatever, he usually borrowed more than he needed – and then made sure that the debt was redeemed before the due date. That was how Rembrandt established an enviable reputation for creditworthiness over the years."

"His knack for bringing in specialists on an equal footing was also applied in Australia. Sir Kenneth Coles of Coles Stores provided the retail expertise, Clive Ogilvy of 2GB was in charge of publicity, and the intense, ambitious Ronald Irish, whose accountancy skills were supplemented by previous experience in the tobacco industry, served as chairman. Even Bill Gunn’s presence on the Australian board had a South African model, namely Jan Henry Moolman, the South African wool farmer who was a ‘top panjandrum’ of South African wool politics."

"Rupert first paid a visit to Philipp Reemtsma in Germany to ask advice and enlist his support. Then he went to England to start talks with Sir Edward Baron. He secured the backing of a later faithful ally, the financier Edmund de Rothschild, who knew the Barons well and worked on them to sell their shares and special voting rights to Rembrandt. De Rothschild told the family members with voting rights that Rupert was ‘an honourable man who would look after the interests of the employees’. According to him one of the family members was undecided, and ‘a certain degree of diplomacy’ was necessary to convince him to part with his interests."

"In his 1977 address Rupert provided a list of services to the community by means of seven institutions in which Rembrandt was actively involved: Historical Homes of South Africa; the SA Nature Foundation, founded in 1968 to promote conservation of the country’s natural heritage; the Rembrandt van Rijn Art Foundation; the SA Sport Foundation, serving all population groups since 1964; the Urban Foundation, established in 1976 to address the critical social conditions in urban areas; the Lesotho National Development Corporation; and Edesa, the development corporation established as Rupert’s brainchild to advance development in Equatorial and South Africa."

"‘You were wise not to use just the surname Stuyvesant but also the first name; it gives the product a far more personal character. White packets are highly problematic, since they can create an impression of coldness if not accompanied by warm colours. That is exactly what you have done here. The gold on the packet, which sometimes looks heavy, is used very subtly. You neatly circumvented the danger of black by using a paler shade that looks more like olive green. The asymmetrical red stripe running halfway round the packet creates a sense of quality and unique distinctiveness that I have never seen in any other packaging. This asymmetry imparts a dynamic vitality to the packet and a self-assured image, suggesting that this is an established brand and its manufacturer is definitely a company of stature.’ [Our translation.]"

"‘I never discuss the relative merits of the brands we produce, and in fact I try not to tell my friends which brands belong to us. I want each of the brands to fly under its own merits, which is why we maintain a separate sales staff for each one.’"

"Through Carreras, Rupert eventually also acquired control of the old, established Dunhill. This well-known company, established in London in 1893 by the remarkable entrepreneur Alfred Dunhill, gave him access to the attractive luxury goods market, which would become one of his group’s major assets."

"‘Men cannot manage guesthouses. I can’t even manage my own home!’ Rupert said in 2002 when addressing the culture board of the FAK.14 ‘It is something women do excellently. Women could be the salvation of Africa.’"

"His experience at the Small Business Development Corporation taught him that women’s creditworthiness far exceeded that of their male counterparts."

"it’s not the time to worry once you’ve made your decision. You must do your worrying beforehand. Once you’ve taken your decision, you must just push on!’"

"Dunhill was the kind of distinguished brand Rupert valued highly: it could be protected and was depression proof."

"Lesotho is one of Africa’s main producers of mohair and the fourth biggest in the world, so it was decided to start a weaving factory. As always, Rupert wanted to obtain the best possible advice. He asked an internationally renowned expert to come to Lesotho to assist with the design of the products. Director of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Jonkheer WJHB (Willem) Sandberg, who was vehemently opposed to apartheid, eventually agreed to visit Lesotho in September 1968 to look into the state of affairs. Stuart Pretorius accompanied the Dutchman on a tour of the mountain country, under strict instructions from Rupert to say nothing to influence the visitor."

"There were ‘major defects’ in the organisation: lack of sales strength, mainly due to lack of sufficient research, proper planning and packaging; expensive superstructure; outmoded machinery and plant; and a new factory far too large for modern manufacturing conditions. All this would have to be set right. ‘It is going to take a considerable time to clear the decks.’ The shareholders cheered when he announced plans to sell off various assets and to amalgamate the group’s British and Canadian operations."

"What was required, however, was an individual with drive and vision who could take the lead – private initiative and creative innovation did not come from a committee."

"Timing played an important role in the success. Rupert’s view of business people as ‘cats on a hot tin roof’ created a spirit of urgency that could inspire miracles."

"When asked by Tegniek why he did not defend himself, he said, ‘Why should I? It would merely add grist to the mill of a handful of sensation-mongers."

"‘If you can buy a person, that person is not worth buying,’"

"the old Boers used to say: One doesn’t hunt termites with Mausers!’"

"‘A brilliant idea only comes to life when it is carried by the driving force of a man who believes in it so passionately that he accepts all risks and surmounts all obstacles. Courage is to be aware of everything that stands in the way and yet still carry on unceasingly.’"

"With Rupert’s usual perfectionism about detail his promotion drive for Krönenbrau 1308 included authentic German beer wagons loaded with barrels, drawn by six large Shire-horses in imported German harnesses."

"Rupert saw the country’s future as lying not in mass production, but in production by the masses – as had happened in South Korea and was also the case in Italy."

"He pointed out that about five million small enterprises in Japan employed 80% of workers in the private sector. With reference to these statistics, he said: ‘To create jobs one must think small.’ He proposed the creation of a small business development corporation with a ‘multiracial’ board of directors and starting capital of R100 million, half of it provided by the state. ‘I shall personally propose to my Group that we contribute one tenth, that is R5 million, of the private sector’s R50 million to such a corporation.’13 Money alone would not solve the problem – small business also had to be promoted through investments in training and aftercare of new entrepreneurs. He proposed that the state provide a further R2,5 million for initiatives of this nature."

"He liked to say that he does not give assignments to a committee because a committee does not lie awake at night thinking about a problem, but an individual does.’"

"‘If you become scared, we are lost; if you listen to this petty talk . . . you are lost. Close your ears! Life is a ladder and if you pull down the man ahead of you, you will fall down yourself. If you push up the man ahead of you, you get somewhere.’"

"‘I just want you to know that with a small group of people in this country we are capable of achieving enormous things. You have to ask yourself, what does a man need? Diligence, certainty and imagination? The Swiss bankers say they need knowledge and character – ‘aus können wird kann’ coupled with character. But above all you need the idea and the ideal and the enthusiasm – and the enthusiasm carries you very far.’"

"‘I’ve learnt that you need to have self-confidence; you have to take calculated risks, take balanced decisions. Your brain always works like a pair of scales: for and against, for and against.’"

"‘I know of no doctor of law in South Africa who has also been a brilliant advocate, because they sharpen the pencil so excessively that the point snaps off. You study more and more about less and less.’7"

"‘What you possess, possesses you.’"

"In his lecture at the University of Pretoria, he stated that it was necessary to send a ‘young man … with a Polaroid camera’ to places like Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Florence and Barcelona to photograph and report on what people in small businesses were doing."

"The finalisation of the American takeover in 1979 saw the creation of Cartier Monde as a reunified, worldwide company. Apart from the original three houses in Paris, London and New York and the Les Must de Cartier boutiques, the firm by this time had shops in Cannes, Monte Carlo, Munich, Palm Beach and Tokyo. Hocq and Rupert amalgamated their interests in an umbrella holding company."

"He fully conceded that it might be more efficient to run his business empire from Geneva or some other central location, but felt he had certain responsibilities to South Africa. Responding to a question in this regard, his answer was brief: ‘There’s too much to do in Africa. I feel more needed here.’"

"He cautioned against expectations that the state should do everything, which anyway is not in the interest of society. Besides, Adam Smith had warned that if you expect that the state should do something for you, you must be prepared that the state could do something to you."

"‘the best way to do business in the long term is to discharge our responsibilities to the community out of gratitude in order to create a climate within which profitable business can still be done in the future’."

"definition of business as ‘honourably serving the public at a profit’."

"wealth entailed responsibility. Wealth could lead either to progress or to decadence; if it led to the acceptance of responsibility and ‘doing good to others’, it was a ‘divine asset’."

"Redistribution of possessions is a one-off gesture, creating illusions of prosperity – redistribution of opportunities, on the other hand, creates lasting prosperity’."

"Two investigations Rupert requested to be done showed that he seriously considered entering the beer market at this early stage in his career as entrepreneur. The one was to find out where the best brewing equipment could be obtained − typical of Rupert, only the best was good enough. Heusschneider told Hoogenhout during a conversation that the Skoda factories in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, were the best bet. Establishing a brewery with a capacity to produce 120 000 bottles a month would cost about £100 000, he said."

"‘Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again’"

"‘If any professor or socialist were to tell you that all profit is of the devil, you must remember that without profit there can be no savings, without savings no investment, and without investment no jobs.’ Making a profit is not disgraceful, he maintained − ‘in fact, it is a disgrace not to make one’."

"With his intense interest in the consumer market, Rupert recognised that women mostly did the household shopping. They bought the family’s food, clothing, linen, furniture and crockery. As the most important purchasers and consumers, women also needed to take their rightful place in manufacturing and marketing, he believed."

"So strict was the secrecy surrounding the deal that Rupert’s name does not even appear in books written about Cartier at the time. It was merely mentioned that ‘another group of investors’ acquired Cartier New York in 1976, and that Cartier Monde was established in 1979 as a result of a merger of the groups that owned the houses in Paris, London and New York."

"A good product benefits from a brand and advertising; for a poor product, it can mean “sudden death”.’"

"‘The consumer apparently regarded each brand as a separate personality, hence there was a strong need for new brands. The rest of the pre-war brands were practically dead and exhausted.’"

"‘As the head of two South African investment trusts he gets money on call; but money from shareholders may be cheaper,’ Nation decided."

"Everywhere Rupert stuck to his policy of working through partnerships."

"It convinced Rupert that patriotism counted for nothing when somebody took money from his pocket, and that he could fare as well internationally as at home, while simultaneously countering a possible local price war."

"‘because necessity is the mother of invention. If one decides something can’t be done in a week, it can drag on for a year.’"

"Rupert met the Parisians Robert Hocq and Joseph Kanoui, the two partners who emerged as key figures in the reunification of Cartier’s three branches. In 1972 they started taking control of Cartier Paris. Hocq, the energetic marketing expert, was the chairman while Kanoui was in charge of finance."

"Rupert made a thorough study of the post-war market. Apart from the preference for new brands, he identified three motives that were inherent in the ‘German character’: Heimweh (nostalgia for home), Lebenschmerz (lit. ‘existential sorrow’, melancholy) and Fernweh (longing for faraway places). Whereas the Peter Stuyvesant brand, with its cosmopolitan image, would clearly not appeal to Heimweh, it played right into the hands of Fernweh. Rupert emphasises that Stuyvesant’s theme radiated ‘joy of living’, something similar to the old motto Kraft durch Freude (Power through Joy)."

"As at other times in his career when the stakes were high, he thought big, and reacted with incredible speed."

"‘You shouldn’t always be grateful for what you get. Often you have to be grateful for what you didn’t get.’"

"Rupert − already making use of what has since become known as a ‘corporate intelligence service’ − was kept in the picture."

"This was another typical quality of the entrepreneurial Rupert: he demanded much of his employees because of his belief that speed, timing and quality were crucial competitive advantages. With this sense of urgency, he would often remind his associates: ‘We are cats on a hot tin roof.’"

"Company vehicles, once they could afford them, were painted green and red and acted as mobile billboards, a brand-new technique at the time. Stationary billboards were put up at strategic points."

"‘Your product could be good, and still be a failure if your sales organisation and distribution aren’t good.’"

"Commenting on this closest of close shaves, Rupert observed philosophically, ‘If you knew beforehand what’s in store for you, you’d never start anything.’"

"Typical of Rupert who was never one to wait for things to happen but instead made them happen, he registered Rembrandt’s trademark in 70 countries. This was something rare at the time – among Afrikaans businesses, only the KWV’s trademark had been registered outside of South Africa. Rupert’s early grasp of the importance of trademarks, something that would become almost an obsession, was to prove a crucial factor in the global success of his group."

"A major lesson he learned from the difficult times during and after the war, according to Rupert, is that Voorbrand was mainly selling products he would typify as C products. He distinguishes three classes of products: A products, better than those of his competitors; B products, which are equal to the products of competitors, and C products, inferior to those of competitors. The lesson he would later impress upon his employees was to launch only A products or at least B+ products. The only other way was imitation or discount prices, which he rejected as not normally options for quality entrepreneurs."

"Rupert considered it a true example of ‘small is beautiful’, the title given by the economist EF Schumacher to his much-discussed book Small is beautiful: A study of economics as if people mattered (1973). For Rupert, private initiative and free enterprise found their best expression in small business ventures."

"He reiterated: white South Africa could not barricade itself or save itself with laws, for laws can never enforce morality. The country was facing both a population explosion and a tide of rising expectations."

"Rupert’s strong conviction that adequate housing was a prerequisite for a stable, healthy community was not just idle talk."

"Lyndall Urwick, Rupert also said: ‘If a person wants to have a conscious purpose in life, he must know that his life is worth living.’ One therefore needs a cause, a purpose, as well as an organisational framework to keep the purpose alive."

"Once again Rupert had acquired an interest in an enterprise with partners that were old, established firms. Again he had chosen his partners carefully, people who also had networks of influential friends and acquaintances. Heineken was an old Dutch brewery with a strong family tradition.10 Whitbread (London) had been launched in London by Samuel Whitbread I in 1742. Colonel Whitbread, who had close links with the royal family, was chairman of the British company in the 1960s and became vice-chairman of the South African company."