Lerato the mining lioness

A LIONNESS OF AFRICA DOMINATING MINING INDUSTRY BY STORM

Story by Blessing Mhlanga

From a street vendor to a fancy office in Sandton, from a sweets trader to a prominent business-woman dominating a male-filled sector. Soweto born Lerato Matosha’s path has not been a bed of roses but thanks to her steel guts, she now has countless business awards in her pocket as well as the honour of being Africa’s top mining mogul.

As she wings proudly on her spongy CEO seat in her office, Lerato reveals that she is grateful for her brutal childhood which she believes birthed in her the passion for business. Raised by a single mother of four daughters, of which Lerato is the first born; she recalls the past days of time when she used to roam around her neighborhood with a heavy tray of sweets which were priced as low as 50 cents each, hoping to attract buyers so that she could make a decent profit.

“I started selling sweets in my neighborhood when I was in grade 8 and I had to use all the profits to help my mother pay for our school fees. It was a painful experience for a young girl like me then and I believe that many people were buying because they were feeling pity for me. However, I am grateful for that experience because I learnt a lot from it,” Lerato explained.

The financial barriers at home forced her to attend School only twice a week and spent the other days trading sweets, but after sleepless nights of consistent studying, she surprised even herself with a whopping 9 distinctions in her matric results; which eventually paved her a red carpet to Wits University through a bursary. Having received her degree crown in Financial accounting which flooded tears of bliss to her family, she landed a job at Rainbow minerals as the managing director, which two years later she resigned because she felt like her potential was being limited to an employee box, more so with the fact that she was a woman.

With the experience from her previous job, Lerato launched her own multi-million-dollar gold mining empire: Alive Minerals, which generates more than R2 billion in annual revenue - a remarkable achievement for a company led by a woman.

One of her challenges was having to deal with false reports that she slept her way to the top in order to succeed abundantly in her business, but she maintains that she is not moved by such claims because she knows where she comes from and wherever she is now, only God has placed her there and it is not the work of man.

“I am a product of grace. People may have a say about me but its fine, it’s their opinion not God’s opinion about me. I know where God taken me from, I’m grateful to my mother for all she has done for me and I am looking forward for more blessings from God in the future not from man,” Lerato assured with a charm of confidence inevitable all over her persona.

One of the things she is proud of is standing up against the stigma that as a woman she was inadequate to run her own business and she gives her Christian mother credit for empowering her to be a strong woman against the odds.

“I was told countless times that I was never going to run a business because running a mining company was apparently for men only but my mother said to me; the same God who created man is the same God who created a woman. God has given everyone the power to prosper; it is all in your hands,” she revealed.

Every day she gazes the golden display in her house which contains over 14 business awards she has won all over the world during her business career and the one that stands out the most to her is Forbes business woman of the year award she won in 2010. She says that it is an award that she prays will inspire women to be independent entrepreneurs rather than subjective beggars.

Above all, her greatest achievement is being able transform her family status from poverty to wealth, pain to comfort and tears to pears of delectable fruits. Lerato insists that it is not her material blessings such as the two spacious mansions she owns, her private jet, her Porsche vehicles or Lamborghini that defines her, but the blessing of having a lovely husband, joyful children, happy employees, a loving mother and peace of heart does. Although she has never met her father, she unveils that she holds nothing against him and she has never felt the void of not having a father because God has filled that void and became a better father than any man can do.

Ten years from now Lerato wants to grow her business by venturing into other mining sectors such as diamond and coal on an international context. The stunning business woman is not only a gold mining mogul but she also has a heart of gold and this is evident through her philanthropist work in which she donates sanitary pads to rural students nationwide and also sponsors about 100 students every year for their tertiary studies.

Despite all the stigma surrounding women, Lerato Matosha is an excellent example of a difference maker, who is bold enough to act against the status quo in order to leave a legacy that is worthy of emulating. From her life the outstanding lesson is that it is not one’s background that determines the future, rather what one does with the present makes up their tomorrow. 

 …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Please note that this is a work of fiction by the writer.