The Compagnie financière Richemont (CFR), more commonly known as Richemont, is today the world’s second-largest luxury group in terms of turnover, just behind the giant LVMH. The eighth-largest market capitalization on the Swiss Market Index, Richemont’s story began with tobacco plants…
Born in 1916 in Graaff-Reinet, South Africa, Anton Rupert was not actually destined for a career in business. The young Afrikaner dreamed of becoming a doctor, a vocation he had to abandon for lack of money to finance his studies. He then turned to the sciences and obtained a degree in chemistry at the University of Pretoria in 1939.
As the Great Depression hit the entire Western world, Anton Rupert made an astonishingly constant assessment of the situation. Despite the unprecedented economic crisis, he realized that people were still using tobacco and alcohol in large quantities. The story goes that he then began making cigarettes in his garage, starting in 1941.
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Featured Photo : © Maison De Greef
