Danisa Baloyi, who was this week named Businesswoman of the Year by the national edition of South Africa's Top 300 Companies, describes herself as a business activist.
But that description understates her role in the anti-apartheid struggle, a role that catapulted her to a national figure in the US when, almost single-handedly, she forced one of the top US universities to stop investing in companies that operated in South Africa.
Baloyi was studying for an education degree at Columbia University in 1984 when she and a group of other students demanded that the institution disinvest in all companies with interests in South Africa. They barricaded a strategic building that led to most classrooms.
When the university authorities refused to listen, Baloyi and five other students went on a hunger strike, which was captured by most of the US media. This quickly spread to other Ivy League universities.
On the 17th day of the strike, Baloyi collapsed, and this led to worse media publicity for her university.
Two days later Columbia decided to cave in and disinvest.
"This was a great victory for us. From there I travelled all over the country addressing students, which led to more universities divesting from companies that invested in South Africa," Baloyi recalls.
She got an award from the US congress for being an outstanding youth leader and was invited to address the member states of the UN.
Her victory was not without suffering.
Two days into her hunger strike, her US scholarship was withdrawn. Her university magnanimously said it would finance her studies. Finally, the Institute of International Education was forced to restore her scholarship.
She had visits of support from former ANC president Oliver Tambo and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
But the South African government was not as forgiving. When she tried to renew her passport she was told in no uncertain terms that she had committed high treason and was no longer entitled to a passport.
When Baloyi's mother died in South Africa in 1991, the South African authorities gave her a piece of paper to use for travelling for the burial. A day after the funeral, the security police paid her a visit at home, but she defiantly chased them away. She eventually returned to the country permanently in 1994.
Baloyi, who studied library science for two years at the University of Zululand before being expelled for political activism, completed her degree at the University of the North, where she was told she had to start from scratch.
After working as a professor at various US universities, Baloyi joined the UN Development Fund for Women as a consultant. "This is where I came to realise that women-owned businesses in Africa were the backbone of the economy."
On her return to South Africa, Baloyi worked for Movement Marketing, which was the branding section of the ANC. Her role led her to organise the Mopani business summit between the ANC and black business.
This resulted in the formation of the National Black Business Council, of which she was made executive director.
This was followed by a string of other appointments.
She is the chairman of the Advertising Standards Authority and the monitoring committee for the marketing and communications industry.
She is also the chairman of Women Investment Holdings, which has recently bought a 51 percent stake in Montadia Asset Trust Company. Baloyi is chairman of the Black Business Council and the deputy chairman of SA Tourism.
Apart from sitting on company boards, she is a member of the government-appointed Black Economic Empowerment Commission and President Thabo Mbeki's black business working group.
She owns Barrington's, an up-market restaurant in Johannesburg's Killarney Mall, and she is a founder of DB Consulting, a management consulting company, and Sensas Communications.
Baloyi says she owes a debt to four people for her success in business and public life. These are former Gauteng premier Tokyo Sexwale; the present Gauteng MEC for finance and economic development, Jabu Moleketi,who appointed her chairman of the first provincial tender board; finance minister Trevor Manuel, who appointed her to the board of the Industrial Development Corporation; and public enterprises minster Stella Sigcau, who appointed her to the board of Denel, the state-owned armaments corporation.
Her advice to young people is to look at parastatals as the right platform to launch their careers because of their size.
"I was bittersweet when the Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment Bill went through parliament. I had hoped that all the parties would vote for it. The majority of white parties voted against it. I see black economic empowerment as a business imperative and not a colour issue. If the majority feel that they do not own anything, then we cannot develop this economy."
She is also the chairman of the steering committee of the South African business group on the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad).
Baloyi says: "I have a new passion for Nepad. For us to succeed in South Africa we need to Nepadise, but Nepadise effectively though partnerships." - Johannesburg