Professionally, Pearl Kupe earned her LLB, Bachelor of Laws degree from University of Botswana (in conjunction with Edinburgh University), and her LLM, Masters of Law (Advanced Labour Law) , (with distinction) and PGD in dispute Resolution (with distinction) from the University of Cape Town. Ms. Kupe is also a certified Business coach qualified through the University of Berkley, USA.
Ms. Kupe has lectured to LLM students at the University of Pretoria, University of Port Elizabeth, University of Cape Town in labour law and to the Botswana Institute of Accountants (BIAC) in the field of Mercantile Law. She has also lectured and coordinated a regional ILO sponsored PGD dispute resolution programme that was developed for SADC (Southern Africa Development Community) mediators, conciliators and officers working in the dispute resolution field from Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland and Botswana.
Ms. Kupe is a frequent commentator on radio and television in South Africa and internationally.She has hosted and continues to host educational, current affairs and TV programmes on South African national television and is a regular columnist for a number of magazines in the Southern African region.
She has served as Senior State & Principal State Counsel in the Botswana Attorney General Chambers and was also as the first appointed Registrar to the Botswana Industrial (Labour Court). She worked as a Social Dialogue Specialist with the ILO, International Labour Organisation, a UN agency that deals with labour law reform and social dialogue issues for six years as a Social Dialogue Specialist with the ILO Office in Pretoria with the mandate to advance and promote labour peace in eight of the SADC (Southern African Development Community) nations.
After working with the ILO, Ms. Kupe worked as corporate executive for Transnet Ltd, the biggest transport and logistics company in Africa. During her six year stint with the company, Ms Kupe worked as a Business Coach for the company in the Re-engineering department and also as a corporate executive for Communications, for Human Resources, for Safety and also for Transformation.
Ms. Kupe speaks at many global conferences on a number of different topics, including matters pertaining to the African continent, transformational leadership, social dialogue and labour law & legal issues, communication matters, transformative education matters and gender issues.
She has served on a number of national, regional and continental taskforces and advisory committees. She also serves on a number of international Boards, including Amrop Landelahni. She is the Africa Representative for EWA, the East, West and Africa Forum, A forum made up of Women Leaders from all over the world. She is also a Facilitator and regular speaker at GILPP, the Geneva Institute of Leadership and Public Policy. This is an Institute in Geneva that annually trains world leaders in the areas of leadership, governance and public policy. She also works with the GILPP Institute on a voluntary basis as a trainer and facilitator. She is also privileged to sit on the honorary Executive Committee for the Africa Women Leaders Forum, a forum initiated by Crans Montana for African women Presidents, Vice Presidents, First Ladies, Government leaders and international organisations chaired by the UNESCO Director-General Irina and Vice Chair, Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Since leaving formal employment in the corporate world, Ms. Kupe currently works as a global consultant to national governments and international organisations. Her regular assignments include:
- Consultant to PTI-Princess Taghrida Institute in Jordan for women empowerment programmes
- Consultant to Ministry of Labour, Kingdom of Swaziland on labour law matters
- Director, Africa Women Leadership Programmes-Africa Board & Africa Lead programmes
- Africa representative to EWA-East, West and Africa Womens Forum
- Consultant with ITC, Intelligence Transfer for their Women in Law enforcement, Women in Leadership Development, Women in Politics and Pioneering Women programmes.
- Honorary Executive Committee, African Women Leaders Forum
Ms. Kupe has the privilege of being the recipient of a number of awards, including:
-Pioneering women of Southern Africa SADC award
-Women in Ministry, South Africa
-Extraordinary Women Award-Nigeria
-Sounds of Millions Award-India