A champion of women's empowerment
Margaret Hirsch (nee Smith) was born in Zimbabwe to South African parents who went there to make their fortune. In 1961 he was diagnosed with a brain tumour and the family came back to South Africa and settled in Pietermaritzburg, where her father died later that year.
Margaret was placed in a foster home to finish Std 5 while her mother found work in Durban. A few years later her mother remarried. "My stepfather, John Duckham, was a wonderful man. He took my younger brother Stuart and I on with his own three children.
Margaret attended Russell High school in Pietermaritzburg, and matriculated in 1967. Her first job was with an attorney. She started work on the day she left school, and has worked ever since. Margaret met Allan Hirsch, a fridge mechanic, in 1971. They married in 1972 when she was working as a secretary with JBS and then for a shipping company in Durban.
When she fell pregnant with Richard in 1976, she was fired from her job. Their daughter, Luci, was born in 1978, and in 1979 the Hirsch's opened their first shop in Umhlanga Rocks Drive, Durban North.
Over the last 34 years the Hirsch's have opened twelve Hirsch Homestore branches throughout KZN, Gauteng and Cape Town and five concept stores (Samsung and Sony stores in KZN and Gauteng and a bedroom boutique and lighting shop in Cape Town).
Today, as Chief Operations Executive of Hirsch's, Margaret is integrally involved with all aspects of the business. She is a champion of women's empowerment, and someone who firmly believes in giving back to the community, especially to people in a less fortunate situation. All Hirsch's staff members are encouraged to better themselves and are taught that by uplifting themselves they will ultimately uplift those around them.
Margaret regards herself as a "jack of all trades". Having done the selling, invoicing, demonstrating, being a delivery person on the trucks, installing and demonstrating in customers' homes and generally taking care of everything at Hirsch's for the past 34 years. "We have built Hirsch's from a tiny little "mom and pop's" store to a billion rand company and I hope that I will be an inspiration to others and help them believe that they can live their dreams as well." she says.
Margaret's knack of empowering everyone who works for the company is legendary. "In 1994 we made the decision to empower our drivers, we sold them our trucks at a low price, allowing them to pay us back over a long period of time. The ripple effect from our business is that over 20 businesses have started up over the last 18 years and those businesses employ over 600 people..." she explains.
Customer loyalty is what has made Hirsch's a household name. They were recently voted as the People's Choice in the appliance, electronics and air-conditioning retail outlets by Daily News readers. What amazes people is that Margaret does not have an office in any of the branches. She sits at a desk on the floor and helps deal with customer complaints and queries on a daily basis. Margaret explains. "Keeping our customers happy and providing them with a unique, hands on service has helped our business grow and we are continuously finding ways to improve on our service to them."
BUSINESS WOMEN OF THE YEAR COMPETITIONS AT ALL HIRSCH BRANCHES
Over the last two years, Margaret has been the recipient of a variety of awards to acknowledge her contribution to the business world in South Africa, from the BWASA Business Woman of the Year (Entrepreneur) award in 2012 to SANLAM's Lifetime Achievement Award in Entrepreneurship in 2013. This year she was a nominee in the Standard Bank sponsored Business Woman of the Year (Topco) Awards.
"Winning these awards has been wonderful - both for Hirsch's and for me personally, and I would like to see this happening to other women in business." Margaret explained when she decided to launch the Margaret Hirsch Business Woman of the Year Award in each area in which Hirsch's operates throughout South Africa. "As women, we tend not to be assertive enough. There are so many fantastic women out there who are not coming forward to be acknowledged for their contribution to the business world, and I would like to encourage them to come forward and enter the competition or nominate a friend or business owner who they would like to be recognized for this award and if you think you are a successful business woman don't be too shy to enter yourself!" she said.