Billionaire tycoon Johann Rupert is the chairman of Swiss-based luxury firm Compagnie Financiere Richemont – popularly known for Cartiar and Montblanc, as well as of the South Africa-based company Remgro. He was born and raised in Stellenbosch, South Africa. He gained admission to study Economics and

Company Law at the University of Stellenbosch, but dropped out of the university to follow his business dreams. Rupert served his business apprenticeship in New York, where he worked for two 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. He was eventually awarded a honorary doctorate in Economics by the University in 2004. He also received a honorary doctorate in Commerce from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in 2008.

Like many billionaires, Rupert is not one for “paparazzi” rarely grants interviews and shuns public events. Without getting any glamorous education, he was able to predict a world economic crisis in 2006. . He is currently estimated to be worth $5.5billion