Margaret Hirsch – Climbing Mountains of Excellence!
On August 28, Margaret Hirsch, the Chief Operations Officer for the mega appliance store, Hirsch’s, the company that she, and her husband Allan founded 33 years ago, won the Entrepreneurial Business Woman of the Year Award. She received her award from President Jacob Zuma at a glittering gala dinner held at the Sandton convention centre. This is the top award for women in business in South Africa.
Margaret Smith was born in Zimbabwe to South African parents who went there to make their fortune. Her father worked as an auto electrician. In 1961 he was diagnosed with a brain tumour and the family went back to South Africa and settled in Pietermaritzurg, 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 re married. “My stepfather was a wonderful man. He took me and my brother Stuart (5 years younger than Margaret) on with his own three children.” Margaret attended Russel High school in Pietermaritzburg, and matriculated in 1967. Her first job was with an attorney. “I started work on the day I left school, and have worked ever since.” She says.
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. Luci was born in 1978, and in 1979 the Hirsch’s opened their first shop. “It was as big as a large bathroom. We put all the goods outside and started our first cookery school inside the shop.” She says.
The next thirty three years passed in a whirlwind, with one Hirsch Homestore branch following another. Margaret has been integrally involved in the construction of each Hirsch store. The Hirsch’s have made a point of personally training their members of staff and living above the new branch until they feel that they can make it alone. “It’s a great comfort having the boss living above the shop – and on the floor dealing with customers on a daily basis.” explained one of the branch managers.
Today, as Chief Operations Executive at Hirsch’s Margaret is integrally involved with all aspects of the business. Margaret 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, 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.
Her true wealth, she believes, are her children. Both Richard and Luci are involved in the family business. “I think today, to bring up children who are good citizens, and who are going to do something with their lives is the best reward that anybody can have, and to me the greatest value in life is to have a really strong family unit where you can work together, live together and have fun together!” Margaret says.
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 33 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 to know 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 their 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, employing 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. “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.” 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.” She says.
How important is keeping the business in the family and what have been the greatest challenges in running a family-owned business? We asked.
“I think it is very important to keep the business in the family. We have been offered huge amounts of money to sell the business, but to me it’s a way of life. Although I do need to point out that both my children went overseas and worked in various different companies overseas and in South Africa before they joined our company. I think the greatest challenge in running a family owned business is to teach your children from a very young age that they have to work really hard to get ahead. Some people think they can work for a while and the money will keep rolling in but it doesn’t work like that. You have to keep working every day of your life.”
The average day for Margaret at Hirsch’s starts at 4am when she and Allan get up to meditate. “At 4:30am we leave for gym and we go to gym from 5:00am ’till 6:00am every day. After gym we shower, change and we are at our desks by between 6:30am but 7:00am at the latest. Our managers come in at 7:00 and we then work with our managers from 7:00am – 7:30am to help them plan their day and or their week. At 8:00am we have a motivational meeting with all the staff to make sure that they are motivated to do their best for the day and to grow them as human beings. After that there are various chores that have to be done in the stores but mostly working with customers to make sure that our customer service is still the best in the country.
After a full day which finishes at 6:00pm once we have cashed up etc. we will come upstairs to shower, change and normally meet with our suppliers as we don’t have time to meet with them in the day and we will discuss promotions going forward because in addition to our eleven shops we do sixteen shows a year and we are now working on concept stores out of Hirsch’s and in shopping centres, so there is always a load of forward planning to do with our suppliers. We work right through to 11:30pm, go to bed at midnight and get up a 4:00am the next day so it’s not for the faint hearted.
With 12 branches and 4 concept stores spread throughout KZN, Gauteng and the Cape, the Hirsch’s are planning to expand even further. Two more Hirsch branches are due to open in Gauteng and the Cape next year and there will be more concept stores opening around the country. “While other companies were talking about the recession we have grown 26% year on year and look forward to continued growth.” says Margaret.