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group executive director, Absa Bank Ltd, South Africa

Peter Mageza's story of how he fulfilled his ambition to become an accountant is a tale of triumph over adversity. Peter's father saw his son as a doctor, but Peter had other plans. 'None of my brothers or sisters had gone on to study medicine, so my parents thought it would be nice to see one of their children become a doctor, but medicine wasn't for me,' he explains.

Peter's determination to become an accountant was fuelled by the remarks made by a university lecturer during the first year of a business and finance degree. 'I was in a class of 100 first-year students and our lecturer told us that no-one would qualify as an accountant. We weren't good enough. That became a challenge. I wanted to prove him wrong,' recalls Peter.

But he never got a chance to finish his degree. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the student population championed the cause for change through the Black Consciousness Movement. Black schools and universities were temporarily shut down and in 1976, the final year of his studies, he was kicked out of university.

'Everyone was involved in politics back then,' recalls Peter. 'You were either on one side or the other. There was no sitting on the fence.' Two years after his expulsion from university, Peter was still on the streets of Soweto, pursuing his political agenda and working occasionally for his father. But a chance encounter put his longed-for accounting career back on track. 'A friend of my father's helped me get to the UK where I bumped into someone who listened to my story and gave me a chance to realise my dream. The deal was that I would be funded for a year to start my studies in the UK. Thereafter, I would be on my own.'

Peter stayed in the UK for five years, during which time he studied and made a living any way he could. 'I got by. I washed dishes, cleaned offices, cycled to lessons, lived in digs,' he laughs. 'At the end of it, I got my ACCA qualification and, for that, I am eternally grateful.'

He returned to South Africa in 1988 and was seconded to the Coopers & Lybrand office in Swaziland, where he stayed for three years, rising through the ranks to become audit manager. By 1993, South Africa was on its way towards becoming a democracy with its first non-racial elections taking place a year later. Peter felt the time was right to return to South Africa for good.

Peter's return marked a new shift in direction of his career. He left auditing and moved into management, heading up a transport and logistics company, before moving on to the banking industry. He managed the process management arm of the technology and operations division of Nedcor, one of South Africa's four big banks and, within two years, was poached by rival Absa bank where, today, he is group executive director of the vehicle and asset finance division.

Peter counts himself among the fortunate few to have scaled the heights of a professional career and he's confident that, with increased opportunities, more black accountants will follow in his footsteps.