South Africa, Aug. 27 -- New role

In June she was appointed the executive: marketing and communications for Absa Business Banking, but her journey began humbly - in her grandmother's home, in classrooms where her teacher-mother worked, and in the corridors of SJ Van Der Merwe Technical High School that set her on an unexpected path.

"My early years were spent with my grandmother because my mom had to return to work. Later, I was literally raised in the classroom. My mom was a teacher with no help, so I started school at three," Bopape recalls. "I repeated Sub A (Grade 1) twice because I was still so young. But that experience taught me adaptability early."

Initially, her path seemed destined for engineering. After studying electrical e...