MARGARET HIRSCH WINS TOP AWARD IN ANNUAL BUSINESS WOMAN OF THE YEAR COMPETITION.

Chief Operations Officer of Hirsch’s, Margaret Hirsch,  was announced the winner  in the Entrepreneur section of the Annual Business Women of the Year Awards at the awards dinner held in the Sandton Convention Centre last night.  The competition is  run by the Business Women’s Association of South Africa (BWSA)   Nedbank and Telkom are co sponsors of the event.

Accepting the award from the Guest of Honour, H.E.  President Jacob Zuma, Margaret said “ This is a great honour for me, but I want you  to know that I could never have done it alone. To my husband Allan, thank you for the past 41 years, and thank you for being a strong enough man  to allow me to be a strong woman and always do my own thing even when you didn’t agree. To my mother who is 87 and still fighting fit -thank you for keeping me grounded and teaching me the values that have enabled me to think for myself and do the right thing no matter what. To my children and grandchildren - you are my true wealth and you have given me more than you will ever know.

 

 I could not stand here without the support of the Hirsch team, some of whom have been with me for over 30 years. We work together like a family and Hirsch’s is run like a well oiled machine. It has been my joy to see you go from strength to strength as our company has grown steadily year on year and to the new team members  coming into the orginsation as we grow - my goal in life is that you can reach all your goals. It’s by helping all of you to grow that I have grown as well - you have lifted me up and you continue to do so daily.”

 

This is the 33^rd year that the competition has been in existence – and co-incidentally, the Hirsch’s have been in business for 33 years, having founded their Appliance and Electronics company 33 years ago.  Margaret and Allan are joint founders of this family run business, starting out with R900 when they opened their doors in a small shop in 1979.  With eleven branches spread throughout KZN, Gauteng and the Cape, they plan to  cross the R1 billion turnover mark for the 2012 financial year.

HIRSCH ‘S LAUNCH CAREERS OF WOMEN

Last week Hirsch’s embarked on a road show in all KZN stores empowering women and recruiting for the stores. The final Womens Career Brunch was held at the Pietermaritzburg branch where Margaret Hirsch addressed the Ladies and talked about her humble beginnings and through hard work and dedication became the Operations Manager and co-owner of Hirsch’s. Supporting Mrs Hirsch on the roadshow was HR Manager Katie Lingley and National Trainer Jenny Syren , both sharing their expert knowledge in their relative fields. Margaret spent some quality individual time with the attendees and Hirsch’s look forward to watching the careers of women grow from strength to strength.

 

In the pic: Hirsch PRO Victoria Laubscher, Mrs Margaret Hirsch, Attendees Zama & Thobeka.

HIRSCH’S VOTED TOP IN YOUR CHOICE AWARDS

For the 4^th year  running, Hirsch’s, the largest independently owned appliance company in Southern Africa, has been voted top in the Your Choice Awards, a survey run by the Daily News, part of the Independent Newspaper group.  They won the award for coming top, with the public, in three categories  - Appliance store;  Home electronics store and Air conditioning supplier.

Commented CEO of the company, Allan Hirsch  “It is very humbling to have received this accolade from the public and I am absolutely amazed and blown away.  However, I know this couldn’t  have happened without an incredible staff and the  passion that we all have  for our customers.  I believe our mission statement of having happy customers who return often because  a superior service is provided -  is a deal breaker. Being a family store, we try to make sure people feel welcome in our stores and we really appreciate them spending their hard earned money with us. We are most grateful for the support and I would like to thank all our customers most sincerely as well as our incredible staff.” Said Allan.

VACUUM CLEANERS – IN THE SPOTLIGHT AT HIRSCH PMB’S DOMESTIC WORKSHOP.

This month at Hirsch PMB’s domestics workshop, participants were put through their paces on the use of vacuum cleaners with  Cheryl Woollatt  from Miele showing the different types of Vacuum Cleaners in the market place and the uses of each type.  She stressed the important of machines bieng kept clean and bags  emptied to prevent overheating and fire. All the different attachments were demonstrated and the attendees left again with some new knowledge and the confidence to handle the vacuums at their workplaces. Hirschs hosts these workshops on a monthly and basis and any enquiries can be forwarded to Victoria Laubscher on 033 3453221 or victoria@hirschs.co.za

HIRSCH’S PMB GIVES BACK

REACH OUT is situated in France, an informal settlement just on the outskirts of Pietermaritzburg, where there are over 75 000 residents, They deal daily with the soul destroying poverty that exists in the area. Liberty Properties built  a centre there to look after child headed households and they daily, with the help of KFC, give a donation of food , for over 900 children.

The programme feeds them, helps them with homework and various schools in the area help  with education, training and play. They also have a clinic  that is run by NCF church.

The centre has carpets in the hall which have not been vacuumed in a while. On various occasions they are able to loan a vacuum cleaner but Hirsch PMB has decided to give back to the community and donated a much needed Vacuum Cleaner so that the residents of the centre are able to live and work in a dust free environment.

In The Pic: Melanie Du Plessis from REACH OUT, Victoria Laubscher PRO Hirsch Pietermaritzburg

The ladies of Hirsch PMB show support for the REACH FOR A DREAM FOUNDATION Slipper Day. Seen In the Picture are Sales Ladies Amy, Pearl and Melissa together with PRO Victoria
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