POWER 98.7 Chairman Given Mkhari will host prominent South African and international businessman Johann Rupert in an intimate discussion for the 2018 annual Chairman’s Conversation.
Rupert is the founder and Chairman of Richemont, a Swiss-based company which designs, manufactures, distributes and sells luxury goods. Richemont’s brands includes Cartier, Montblanc, Chloe and Dunhill, Panerai, IWC, Van Cleef & Arpels. Richemont is the second largest luxury goods company in the world. In May 2018 Richemont paid about R45 billion to acquire full control of fashion e-commerce giant YNAP. And in October 2018 Richemont announced a joint venture deal with Alibaba targeting the lucrative Chinese market.
In South Africa Rupert is Chairman of Remgro, an investment holding company with over 30 investee companies in private health care, banking, insurance, consumer products, petroleum products, media, sports, and infrastructure, both in the listed and unlisted spaces.
Remgro owns significant stakes in Mediclinic, First Rand, Outsurance, Discovery, Distell, RCL Foods, Total, ETV to mention but a few. Some of the well-known consumer facing brands in Remgro owned companies include Rainbow chicken, Selati sugar, Mageu, Sunbake, Nola Mayonnaise, Rama, Stork, Flora and various alcohol brands.
Mkhari explains why Rupert was a natural choice for this year’s Chairman’s Conversation: “While Rupert is a well-established businessman, he remains an enigma to many South Africans. We know of some his companies and products, but what do we really know about this man? Johann Rupert is in every aspect of SA life. We interface with his products and services on a daily basis, whether you are young or old, poor or rich.”
Mkhari added, “Our economy is as challenged as it is equally contested, we can all benefit from engaging a global business figure like Rupert, who continues to be a very influential player in our economy. His input on the economic transformation and growth question is of critical importance”. In 2017, Mkhari launched The Chairman’s Conversation by hosting President Thabo Mbeki. The Conversation was a pivotal event in the news and political calendar and served as a key reference point for many South Africans for the year to come.
“We started The Chairman’s Conversation because we saw a need to engage with leaders whose decisions have massive societal impact. Often – as with Rupert – society is not aware of the extent of the impact these individuals have in our lives. The Chairman’s Conversation is, without a doubt, shaping into the most important conversation of the year. The beauty of this conversation happening at POWER98.7 is that we are an authentic platform, trusted to approach such conversations openly and constructively.”
The Chairman’s Conversation will be aired live on December 4 on POWER 98.7, Capricorn FM as well as Beat 105.2 in the Free State and ONE EC in the Eastern Cape. The conversation will also be streamed live on all MSG Afrika broadcasting platforms, includingwww.power987.co.za.