How a Limpopo upbringing armed Erica Bopape for Absa's corporate world

Erica Bopape

New role

In June she was appointed the executive: marketing and communications for Absa Business Banking, but her journey began humbly — in her grandmother’s home, in classrooms where her teacher-mother worked, and in the corridors of SJ Van Der Merwe Technical High School that set her on an unexpected path.

“My early years were spent with my grandmother because my mom had to return to work. Later, I was literally raised in the classroom. My mom was a teacher with no help, so I started school at three,” Bopape recalls. “I repeated Sub A (Grade 1) twice because I was still so young. But that experience taught me adaptability early.”

Initially, her path seemed destined for engineering. After studying electrical engineering at what was then Wits Technikon, Bopape began her career as a cable jointer at Telkom, quite literally working underground and on poles. “It wasn’t glamorous. My peers were moving into software and design, while I was dealing with the risky technical side. I decided that, you know, this is not for me. I want to see myself in corporate so I literally started from scratch.”

With remarkable courage and a spirit of adaptability, she reset her career in her early 20s.

She says:

I never planned to go into marketing. I need to be honest that marketing found me somewhere while I was quite young and making different decisions.

Bopape temped across corporates, taking reception and filing jobs until she landed in a legal department where a senior leader spotted her potential. That moment sparked her move into communications and ultimately, marketing with some of her roles at top financial institutions like Investec and Liberty.

High-stakes

Since then, Bopape has led high-stakes projects, including Absa’s corporate and investment brand transition across the continent. “There was no playbook," she says when talking about her role in the transition. "We were separating from a major shareholder and had to rebrand every single touchpoint, across multiple countries, in technology, operations, buildings, and communications. I had to learn fast, surround myself with the right people, and immerse myself in areas outside my expertise. It was the toughest and most rewarding leadership lesson.”

It is in these moments when she has the wellbeing of a brand in her hands that she believes leadership is tested.

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Adds Bopape: “Clear communication is important, leading with empathy. Transparency and inclusion, when going through a change you need to make sure there is regular communication where they can share their concerns and feel a sense of ownership in the change.”

The marketing executive is passionate about Absa’s positioning as the bank for entrepreneurs, emphasising the importance of empowering African businesses at every scale. The brand recently released a new campaign aimed at this segment:

The brand new campaign was launched in August.

“We understand entrepreneurship and we know what gets them awake at night and what gets them going. We get their wins and their goals, we have been in the space for a long time and we are well rounded in terms of wholesale and we have a lot of experience and good relationships with our clients. We have banked generations of our clients.”

Bopape says she has been with Absa for 14 years, when asked what makes her stay with the brand she claims: “I have been here for 14 years but it feels like I have not been at the same place because of change. This is my sixth role and there has been opportunity in the bank to go into a new space. There are challenging times that build your resilience and your learning, there is a lot of focus on upskilling and on women.”

She concludes: “There is also amazing human beings at Absa, and there are people who leave and come back."

Inspiration

When asked who inspires her, Bopape immediately points to the women around her, starting with her house manager, whose support makes it possible for her to succeed. She also draws inspiration from her “tribe” — colleagues, peers, and countless women who juggle careers, households, and the task of raising future generations. For her, these women show up in different ways across different spaces, constantly teaching her new lessons and motivating her to be better every day.

Her advice to young people who want to enter marketing in highly regulated fields like banking is "to balance the art and the science" and focus on digital fluency, storytelling, data and literacy.

Says Bopape: "There is a lot of emphasis on the art but when talking to business its always about commercialisation and how we are going to make money. So you need to be able to balance the two and show value and impact."