Family, fortune and business - a successful mix
With an almost three decade business track record, the founders of Hirsch’s stores are famously known for the mega appliances retail chain of stores which they have set up across the country. Founders Margaret and Allan Hirsch started their entrepreneurial journey in 1979 with a mere R900. Margret recalls the day she lost her receptionist job. Pregnant and unemployed, she and her husband had to find a way to make ends meet. “We went from having two jobs and no children to two children and no job in a space of one year. So we did,” Margaret said about starting their own business. Although Allan had been working as a refrigeration repairman after quitting school, Margaret still needed a job. Allan then suggested that they start their business. In the beginning, they focused on refrigeration and air conditioning repairs. Over time their business grew, and they opened one store after another.
Self-actualisation
Margaret wished she would’ve been taught early in her life to keep a positive outlook on life. Raised in poverty and within a society that believed it was a sin to be rich, she urges the importance of self-motivation and pursuing your God-given talents. She says, “In my household it was rude to be rich, so you didn’t like rich people. You thought they were show-offs and things like that.” A negative atmosphere and constant moaning was the order of the day. Margaret would have liked to have told her 20-year-old self that God wanted her to have wealth in abundance and have lots of everything. “I didn’t know there was another side to life. I didn’t know there was a positive side to life.” Little did she know one day she would run a leading nationwide appliance retail chain.
Passion for entrepreneurship
With courage and the DNA of a risk taker, she, along with her husband, have built 17 Hirsch’s store branches countrywide. Margaret says building a retail empire was not a walk in the park. She sleeps a maximum of four hours a night and when she is extremely busy, she only sleeps two hours a night. “We have to be working to get the wheels in motion so that the people who come to work the next day have a job to do.” Margaret is greatly involved with all 17 stores. She visits each one at least once a week. The enthusiastic mother of two is passionate about entrepreneurship and motivating people - especially her employees. “I love getting people to start their own business, which is what I do on a daily basis. A day does not go by where I don’t help someone start a business.”
Networking support to start new businesses
Hirsch’s have established a networking programme that aims at linking up corporates, entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs where they share knowledge and assist one another in starting a business. Margaret also assists aspiring entrepreneurs with their business ideas, to implement it and get a head start. Her focus is across the board - from domestic workers to jewellery makers. “I am passionate about business. I am passionate about South Africa and I think we as a country need to be strong. We as South Africans have to be entrepreneurs.” In her networking sessions, start-ups often say they need assistance with capital. Margaret believes entrepreneurs should never borrow money to start a business. Because you eventually need to pay back the money with interest. “Start slow, use the money you have. Get what money you can, sell everything. And every cent you make, you plough back into the business.”
Employees are investments
Margaret is also passionate about the growth and development of her employees. Hirsch’s currently employs 2 000 people countrywide. She invests in unqualified and inexperienced staff, and fuels them with motivation and determination to prosper. Loyalty is one component that she values. Running retail stores can be daunting if the employees are undisciplined, and theft is often a challenge. “[I] teach them not to steal, because a lot of people think they can steal and get away with it. So we only ask three things of people who come to work for us. We want honesty, integrity and loyalty.” She urges her employees to set goals. Within six months of employment with Hirsch’s, she motivates them to invest in homes and live comfortably.
Making expensive mistakes and dealing with failure
n 1988, Hirsch’s was doing incredibly well. Margaret recalls that their house and cars had been paid off, and they had R2m in the bank. A friend advised them to buy another business that was owned by a man who wanted to retire. “I asked how much he wanted and he said R2m. And I thought to myself this must have been meant to be.” They bought the business with no idea of the turmoil that was about to follow. “When he showed the books it seemed that he had paid everybody, but he had held back R3m worth of cheques he still needed to pay. “And the minute I signed on the dotted line and gave him my money, he released R3m worth of cheques. So I went from having R2m in my account to a R3m overdraft in one afternoon.” In one day Margaret and her husband had lost everything they had worked for. They had to start all over again, this time with R3m in debt. She says, “We worked really hard to get it back.” With the courage to persist, they rebuilt their wealth from the ground. Margaret believes entrepreneurs need to learn from their mistakes. “The first time it is a mistake. The second time you are an idiot. So don’t make the same mistake twice,” she chuckles.
Love and family
Margaret runs 17 stores, manages 2 000 employees, is a wife, mother, grandmother of five grandchildren, and the daughter of her 95-year-old mother. She is passionate about charity and changing people’s lives. With the willingness to make a change and a drive to live a purpose-filled life, Margaret is on a path of tranquillity and fulfilment.
