Africa Business Report BBC

Lerato joined the BBC in 2012 as presenter of flagship breakfast radio programme Newsday on the BBC World Service.

Prior to that, she served as a senior business anchor for CNBC Africa when it launched in 2007.

She hosted a variety of business-focused programming and specials, including presidential debates and the live CNBC Africa Debate at the World Economic Forum in Africa in 2009.

Lerato was also previously the co-editor of Designing Democracy, an anti-poverty ambassador for the Southern Africa Trust and a recipient of literature awards from the World Association of the University of Women.

Lerato began her journalism career in 1999 at South Africa's state-owned broadcaster The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). She eventually served as an anchor for the channel's daily news show News at 10 and also fronted the weekly show The Ambassadors.

Lerato has interviewed notable political figures, including Nobel Peace Prize laureates Kofi Annan, Wangari Maathai and F.W de Klerk, and has also interviewed Bill Gates, Olusegun Obansanjo, Goodluck Jonathan and Uhuru Kenyatta.

Lerato is a Chevening Scholar and a regular speaker at conferences and televised debates, having participated in the World Bank and IMF annual meeting in Washington DC and the UN Climate Change Summit COP17 in 2011.