Daphne Mashile-Nkosi promises that we are going to hear more about her.
As chair of Kalagadi Manganese, Mashile-Nkosi presided over the recent R4,2bn joint-venture deal struck with multinational steel giant ArcelorMittal.
It has been quite a journey for the former women's rights activist who was born the youngest of four into a poor Pilgrim's Rest family.
Before her consortium won a licence to mine manganese in August 2005, she worked for the National Movement of Rural Women. Detained and imprisoned by the apartheid government, she says she remains passionate about the rights of rural women. In 1994 she was instrumental in lobbying then justice minister Dullah Omar to pass laws that put traditional marriages on an equal footing with civil marriages.
At her insistence, one of the terms of the ArcelorMittal joint venture with Kalagadi is that the company will always be chaired by a woman.
Mashile-Nkosi says her entry into business came "almost by accident - I was invited into business because of the community structures I was involved in".
As a community facilitator and a loans officer for the Women's Development Bank, she saw her role as training women to generate income.
Unlike other mining companies, she has refused to water down the black economic empowerment component of Kalagadi, retaining 80% control through Kalahari Resources, which she chairs.
"I'm a South African and these assets belong to the people of SA," she says.
She enjoys telling the story of how the joint-venture partner was chosen, with leading multinational mining companies eager to get a stake in the vast manganese deposits Kalagadi commanded.
"It was very exciting. Nineteen companies applied, we shortlisted six, then three and made our choice. ArcelorMittal was our second choice. Then we decided to let the three give us another presentation, and we chose ArcelorMittal.
"There was little me with nothing, and I was picking and choosing which of these huge companies I wanted as a partner. They were queuing up to do business with us," she laughs.
" We chose Mittal because they will act as a consumer of what we're selling. Even in tough times, 50% of what we've mined will already be sold to them," she says.
She is proud that the company is building the first new manganese smelter in SA since the 1970s. She wants to look at other commodities and build Kalagadi into a leading mining house.
"Events like this remind me of the difference I can make. This deal benefits Kalagadi shareholders, and 70% of them are women. They will share in a US$222,5m payout."
And how does it feel to be rich?
"I don't know if I'm rich, but it's nice never having your card declined."
