Rembrandt Group

"the Rembrandt Group was establishing a study fund of R10 000 for deserving children of its own staff. It would be administered as a separate loan fund by the Helpmekaar Study Fund − the educational fund started with the surplus from the Helpmekaar fund for rebels held liable for damages after the Rebellion of 1914. Over the years the Helpmekaar Study Fund provided study loans for thousands of needy young Afrikaners, including eminent figures like economist Prof. CGW Schumann; the heart surgeons Chris Barnard and his brother Marius; the poet Breyten Breytenbach; Dr MH de Kock, former president of the Reserve Bank, and a string of scientists, doctors and business people.13 More recently it broadened its activities to include loans for young entrepreneurs as well. Rupert was a trustee for many years, until he was succeeded as trustee by his son Johann."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"Rembrandt’s overseas investments took on a particular pattern. First, the best possible local partners were found and a new company established. In the initial phase and with the launching, advice and assistance were given from South Africa on an ongoing basis. Rembrandt would revitalise the new acquisition. Through cost-cutting and an emphasis on marketing and advertising the business would take off on its own steam. After the local partners had been trained and empowered, however, the Rembrandt Group moved into the background."

"The rivalry between Oude Meester and SFW was so intense in the 1970s that Eikestadnuus, the local Stellenbosch paper which was at that stage controlled by the Rembrandt Group, made almost no mention of SFW. The paper carried no reports about SFW’s popular open-air theatre, Oude Libertas, where the world-famous pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy enchanted the audience with Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata at the launching concert in 1977."