In 2008, as Thabo Mbeki was entering his final year as president of South Africa, the country was still feeling its way toward a racially integrated economy after decades of apartheid rule. Mining — gold, platinum, diamonds — remained the country’s industrial backbone. And Sandvik, a 150-year-old Swedish-owned supplier of mining equipment, held on as one of that industry’s major corporate players.
Bruce Kamanga, then 34, worked in the company’s Johannesburg office as a low-level clerk in the accounts payable department. It…
Stepping stone to success
