ROLE PLAYERS 2018 - Margaret Hirsch


Margaret Hirsch

Chief Operations Officer
Hirsch's

Margaret and Allan Hirsch 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 the Cape and Gauteng. At the end of 2012, the company had topped the R1 billion turnover milestone and are well on their way to achieving their second billion rand turnover. Their strength, they believe, is in their well trained staff, and customer service. Margaret, Chief Operations Executive of Hirsch's, wife, mother and grandmother is also 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, having been there once herself. Having had to battle from an early age, she found that it is possible, through sheer determination and a positive attitude, to get ahead and now all Hirsch's staff members are encouraged to better themselves and are shown that by uplifting themselves they will ultimately uplift those around them.

MARGARET RECEIVED THE FOLLOWING AWARDS OVER THE LAST 5 YEARS:
South Africa's Most Influential Woman in Business and Government in the retail and wholesale sector in 2011 - in an annual competition run by the CEO Magazine.

Business Woman's Association of South Africa (BWASA)'s Business Woman of the Year (Entrepreneur) 2012. This competition started 34 years ago (co-incidentally when the Hirsch's opened their first branch)

Lady ROCCI (Roodepoort Chamber of Commerce) Gold Award for Business Woman of the Year, 2012.

In 2013 she received the Business Excellence Award from the Ekurhuleni Business Initiative and Captains of Industry Forum. The Ekurhuleni Business Initiative (EBI).

Business Excellence Award was presented to Margaret for her positive attitude towards economic Development.

In August 2013 at the 10th ANNUAL Top Women Awards evening – held to recognize outstanding leadership from organizations that have shaped women's roles within the private and public sector in South Africa, Hirsch's were the proud recipients of two of these awards. Best Women Empowered Community Programme and the Entrepreneur of 2013 Award which was won by Margaret.

On September 4th Margaret received the SANLAM 2013 Life Time Achievement Award in Entrepreneurship. "This award serves as recognition for those entrepreneurs who have continually contributed towards the development and growth of South African entrepreneurship," said Nimo Naidoo, project manager of the Sanlam/Business Partners Entrepreneur of the Year competition.

In 2014, Margaret was given the great honour of being selected to be inducted into the Global Women Leaders Hall of Fame (2014) for countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Nominee for Africa's Most Influential Women in Business and Government 2015

Country Winner in Wholesale and Retail sector of CEO Global's Most Influential Women in Business & Government Award.

Lifetime Achiever in Wholesale and Retail sector of CEO Global's Most Influential Women in Business & Government Award.

Regional Winner in Wholesale and Retail sector of CEO Global's Most Influential Women in Business & Government Award.

Winner of the CEO GLOBAL Award for the Most Influential Woman in the Retail and Wholesale Industry for the African Continent

Lifetime Achievement Award for the Most Influential Woman in the Retail and Wholesale Industry for Africa - CEO Global

Cape Chamber Awardee of the International Womens Empowerment Challenge

Winner of the Queen Victoria Commemorative Medal by the European Business Assembly Margaret Hirsch has become a sought after motivational speaker and is a champion of women's Empowerment.

2016 - Margaret won the Global Inspirational Women Leadership Award and the United States Congressional Commendation Award from the Centre for Economic and Leadership Development.

2016 - Margaret and Allan Hirsch were finalists in the National Business Topco Awards in the customer focus category.

2016 - Margaret and Allan were also finalists in the Southern Africa World Entrepreneur Awards in the Master Category.

2017 - Voted one of the top 25 Distinguished Women in Leadership by Amazon Watch Magazine. Award presented at the African Women Leadership Summit, 2017.

2017 - Winner of the World Confederation of Businesses - World Cob, Bizz 2017 award. The awards are given every year to outstanding business people from more than 120 countries around the world.