Margaret Hirsch started Hirsch's, a home appliance repair business in 1979 with her husband in Durban, South Africa with just R900. It has since grown into a chain of 18 appliance and home furnishing stores across South Africa, reaching over R1 billion in annual turnover. As the Chief Operations Officer, Margaret has played a key role in the company's success through her hard work, determination, and passion for customer service. She is also involved in philanthropic work, including a project providing sanitary pads to schoolgirls to help keep them in school.

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Hirsch’s, a name synonymous with service and brand excellence has taken the home appliance
world by storm. With eighteen branches and concept stores spread throughout
South Africa, they have become a force to be reckoned with. An appliance repair man
who unwittingly became an entrepreneur, Allan Hirsch and his wife Margaret started their family
run appliance business in a tiny showroom in Umhlanga Rocks Drive, Durban, in 1979 with just
R900 that they had saved. Today Hirsch’s has grown into a chain of mega appliance
and home furnishing stores in KZN, Cape Town and Gauteng.
By the end of 2012, Hirsch topped the
R1 billion turnover milestone.
BUSINESSICONS household wonders
Photographer Blane Venter
Story Tegan Goldman &
KimBerly George
2 the businesswoman Issue 52 2015

2. s Chief Operations Officer of
the Hirsch group, a sought after
speaker at business events and
schools - where she has estab-
lished a successful motivational
programme across Southern Af-
rica, this dynamic woman who is
passionate about her business and the people who
work for and with her, has become a legend in her
time. Over the last few years, Margaret has been
the recipient of a variety of awards to acknowledge
her contribution to the business world and com-
munity in South Africa. Since winning the South
Africa’s Most Influential Woman in Business and
Government in the retail and wholesale sector
award in 2011 to recently winning the Regional,
Country and Lifetime Achievers Award, Margaret
Hirsch’s feet have barely touched the ground.
a
Over the past 37 years, this inspirational woman
entrepreneur has risen from difficult beginnings
in life, becoming a leading example of success-
ful business women in South Africa, co-founding
and running the multi million rand Appliance and
Electronic retail organisation, Hirsch’s. Marga-
ret’s difficult start in life, with the death of her fa-
ther when she was 11 years old, and her placement
in foster care for a short period whilst her mother’s
circumstances improved, gave her the fortitude
needed to meet every challenge thereafter in life
with fearlessness. At the age of 12 she started
work washing hair in a salon and has since, never
stopped working. Her determination and drive has
helped Hirsch’s grow from a tiny repair shop to a
multi-billion rand company. She points out that it
is only through hard work and a love for what you
are involved in, that businesses will thrive. Putting
it simply she says “You can work for a boss and
make a living - or you can work for yourself and
earn a fortune, but you have to be passionate about
what you do.”
Her entrepreneurial journey began when she and
her husband both lost their jobs at the same time,
and with two children and no income, they pooled
their small financial resources and their consid-
erable talents, and set up their first busi-
ness - a home appliance repair and main-
tenance shop. 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,
personally shopping with customers and
generally taking care of almost everything
at Hirsch’s for the past 37 years. Marga-
ret’s knack of empowering everyone who
works for the company is extraordinary.
Customer loyalty is what has made
Hirsch’s a household name. They were re-
cently voted as the People’s Choice in the
appliance, electronics and air-condition-
ing 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 que-
ries on a daily basis. “What I love in our
industry, is seeing two and sometimes
three generations from the same family
coming through to furnish their homes
with us. 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,” she ex-
plains.
Today, Margaret is a champion of wom-
en’s empowerment and is a firm believer
in the power of giving back to the com-
munity, especially to those who are expe-
riencing difficult personal situations, and
making a positive difference in society.
Having experienced a tough start in life,
she now encourages all her employees
to improve their personal circumstances
by working hard, educating and training
themselves, and as a result uplifting them-
selves and those around them.
As well as running 18 Hirsch branches
and concept stores around South Africa,
Margaret has made it her mission to pub-
licise the plight of young girls throughout
the country who do not attend school in
the months they are menstruating, with
the Girls With Dignity Project. She regu-
larly visits school girls throughout South
Africa to tell them about the project, ini-
tiated by Sue Barnes in KZN. Margaret
is determined to help these girls, having
herself lived a very hard life with the strug-
gles of being the poorest of the poor. She
remembers as a young girl looking around
thinking that there had to be more to life
“Think big. It is
easier to think
big than it is to
think small.”
“I know for sure
that everyone can
make it if they
really try! It is
your job in life
to take your seed
of greatness and
make it grow.”
Margaret
aninterviewwith
Hirsch
than this. Her relation with school girls
being that she knows of the battle of lit-
erally existing from one day to the next,
making her a true inspiration. Travelling
to rural areas at least once every week,
she tells them that in life they will always
have a choice in which they can choose to
stay at home or choose to go to school and
eventually be successful in life. Margaret
hands out panty packs to the girls that
will last them for their entire high school
career. She says: “Within 6 months the
average school attendance increased and
their marks improved drastically. I have
been touched and overwhelmed by the
tenacity and the strength of these young
South African girls. They are our future
and we need to nurture and inspire them
to reach their own personal goals and am-
bitions.” With Margaret’s help and inspi-
ration, the girls are doing better. See Girls
with Dignity Project by Margaret Hirsch
on YouTube.
Margaret has created thousands of jobs by
teaching uneducated women to cook. She
describes South Africa as being the land
of milk and honey saying, “this is a coun-
try where you can make your fortune. You
just have to think out-of-the-box.” Marga-
ret explains that in being successful you
need to have passion and work very hard,
be focused and specialise in something.
At Hirsch they thrive on good ideas that
makes it a fun place saying, “push through
the C.R.A.P (Criticism. Rejection. Adver-
sity. Pressure).”
4 the businesswoman Issue 52 2015

3. Lizelle Coombs
Founder of Business Kits
Sue Barnes
Founder of Subz Pants
and Padz
Kerry Dell
Managing Director of
Your Earth Solutions
Lizelle is passionate about empower-
ing people and supporting businesses
in South Africa. She is a professional fa-
cilitator and mentor, working in under
resourced areas and has developed both
entrepreneurial and corporate training
materials.
She founded Business Kits in 2012 to
support independent entrepreneurs and
township entrepreneurs through infor-
mation sharing sessions, entrepreneur-
ial workshops and sales of her Business
Start-Up Kits. Her fondness of working
with micro-entrepreneurs and the diverse
communities in South Africa, motivated
the birth of an NPO, Angels Resource
Centres, who manages Business Kits
Communities in under-resourced areas.
Lizelle also assists with the design and
setup of sustainable Enterprise Develop-
Married with two teenage daughters, Sue
Barnes has given poor and rural girls their
dignity back. The chance for these girls to
participate in daily activities and most im-
portantly school, without feeling ashamed
and embarrassed is thanks to this sanitary
pad initiative.
After school Sue studied Fashion Design
where she specialised in pattern making
and fabrications. Having a career within
clothing manufacturing companies and
large chain stores, Sue discovered the
plight of the South African scholars who
are missing school due to limited access
of Sanitary Pads. It is estimated that upto
25% of these young ladies education is
unaccounted for. Fortunately, Sue has
designed, developed, patented and SABS
absorbency approved the Subz Washable
Sanitary Pads.
Together with the business Subz Pants
and Pads, Sue has an NPO Project Dig-
nity, where she firstly raises funds, iden-
tifies a school or community in need, has
the packs made and finally distributes the
packs to the girls. This activation pro-
ceeds with a full educational on puberty,
menstruation, personal hygiene, how not
to fall pregnant, and how to care for their
Subz Packs.
AIM - The aim of the Subz Program is to reduce absenteeism and dropout rates in
schools and increase opportunities for girls to complete their education.
OBJECTIVE - The objective of the Subz Program is to empower young girls
through education and access to sanitary wear to reach their full potential.
Other uses of the Subz Pads
• Tertiary education women aged 19 – 25
• Rural Workers – commuting to the city - income is prevented 1 week a month
• New moms – excessive bleeding
• Elderly – incontinence (pads and underwear developed for men and women)
AWARDS
Clarins Most Dynamic Woman 2013
BWA Business Achievers Award 2014 – Social Entrepreneur Finalist
The Accenture Innovation Index 2014 Semi-Finalist Top Innovative Concept
Margaret Hirsch Business Woman of the year Finalist 2015
Africa Institute SMME Award – Small Business 2015 – Winner
SAB Foundation Innovation Awards – Finalist 2015
SUBZ Program
As the managing director of Your Earth
Solutions, Kerry is also the Founder of
EarthBeat as well as the TV Presenter of
the EarthBeat show, her passion and drive
to educate South Africans about sustain-
able living in the privacy of their homes,
businesses and their health has been her
motivation.
Kerry negotiates with Government and
Corporates on sustainable issues and so-
lutions, as well as projects that add value
to Social Economic Development sector,
she also heads up Green Project Manag-
ers on various new development projects.
She gives solutions as well as a positive vi-
sion for humanity and this planet. She has
been an Entrepreneur for numerous years
and has focused her business on making
a difference and an impact on this planet.
Her vast knowledge on the environment
and natural health is due to her extensive
studies and countless Diplomas, namely;
Tourism, Natural Health,Energy Manage-
ment, Geopathis Stress, Hypnotherapy,
Anatomy & Physiology, Reflexology and
Aromatherapy. She studied Climate Re-
ality with Al Gore and completed a NQF
Level 8 for Sustainability within Corpo-
rate business through Rhodes University.
She has also studied Carbon Foot-print-
ing and Energy Management in the UK.
Kerry is the founder of Your Earth Solu-
tions, she left her high powered corporate
job to follow her dream of changing the
world. She now consults businesses on
various products and services to ensure
energy efficient solutions are implement-
ed into the building industry. Your Earth
Solutions is growing and expanding to en-
sure all new developments happening in
South Africa and Africa are developed in a
totally sustainable manner. She supports
the NGO Key of Hope as it helps children
in informal settlements to understand that
there is hope, faith and a brighter future.
We are proud to announce Kerry Dell
as the International Ambassador for the
Grow Mandela association (Ndaba &
Kweku Mandela’s company) she was ap-
pointed recently while in New York. Con-
gratulations Kerry!
ment Projects for corporates and Renew-
able Energy companies. She also designs
incubators and incubator programs and
her experience of rural and business incu-
bators spans across South Africa an inter-
nationally.AscouncilmemberoftheCape
Chamber of Commerce, Lizelle works
closely with the local business commu-
nity. She is an active business-networker
with memberships at the South African
Women Entrepreneur Network (SAW-
EN), the Businesswomen’s Association of
South Africa (BWASA) and International
Women in Business (IWIB).
Formally she holds a Bachelor’s degree in
social anthropology and psychology and
has many years of experience in Entrepre-
neurship, Enterprise Development, Fa-
cilitation of Workshops and Business In-
formation Sessions, Marketing & Public
Relations; Project & Event Management.
“The first day
was a mixture
of doubt, nerves,
excitement and
outright fear”
Contact Us
Address:
1211 Umgeni Road,
Durban, KZN
Phone:
031-582-4456
Email:
enquiries@hirschs.co.za
Business Hours:
Monday to Friday /
8:00 -17:00 www.hirschs.co.za
6 7the businesswoman Issue 52 2015 the businesswoman Issue 52 2015