Full Name: Shirley Ann Hayes

Position and Company Name: Founder and CEO of SHiP Copper

Main Activity of the Company: Copper mining and exploration

Date and Place of Birth: Springbok, Northern Cape, South Africa, December 18, 1967

Education: Matric

First Job: Casual worker in a retail store

Size of First Pay Packet: I honestly cannot remember

Career Path to Date: Admin clerk, magazine master, learner miner, miner, mining entrepreneur

Value of Assets under Your Control: Not stated

Number of People under Your Leadership: We are currently only working with consulting companies; direct employees will be hired at the Rietberg mine later this year

Management Style: Visionary leadership. I see the potential of how the world should be and then take steps to get there. To ensure that my vision becomes reality, I set clear goals, strategy and objectives with a team that is equipped and empowered

Personal Best Achievement: Self-knowledge, which refers to understanding one’s own mental state, processes and dispositions, including one’s inherent qualities of mind and character. It is the single most important thing one needs to master

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Life: My parents

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Career: The smartest person in every room

Person You Would Most Like to Meet: Elon Musk, Robert Friedland and Kamala Harris

Businessperson Who Has Impressed You Most: Elon Musk

Philosophy of Life: The reasonable human adapts themselves to the world: the unreasonable ones persist in trying to adapt the world to themselves

Biggest Ever Opportunity: The Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002, which came into effect on May 1, 2004; it gave small miners opportunities they never had before

Biggest Ever Disappointment: The path of a mining entrepreneur is a high-risk journey, one of disappointments. I do not linger on it but attempt to find another way to fulfil my expectations and reach my goals

Hope for the Future: The world is starting to shift away from unsustainability, cruelty and exploitation towards humans, the environment and animals. It is a slow shift, but it gives me hope that the shift is in the right direction

Favourite Reading: Mostly nonfiction – I am currently reading Post-Truth, by Lee McIntyre. I am also rereading Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea

Favourite TV Programme: I have been watching MasterChef Australia and Survivor since forever

Favourite Food/Drink: Vegan, Middle Eastern, also known as West Asian cuisine/Happy Water and Espresso

Favourite Music: I am all over the genres, but an always favourite is jazz diva Karen Souza

Favourite Sport: Walk in the park

Hobbies: I am trying to cook like Yotam Ottolenghi, I paint when inspired and research on topics of interest

Pets: Jessie, the Alpha dog (Mexican Doberman Pinscher); Barkly, the gentle giant (black

Labrador); and Muggles, the affectionate ginger cat

Miscellaneous Dislikes: Loud noises and bright lights

Clubs: None