Margaret Hirsch, Chief Operations Executive of the Hirsch Group, 2015 IWEC awardee and a champion for women’s empowerment, received the award for the most Influential Woman in Wholesale and Retail for the African Continent, as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award in her category in The Titans’ Most Influential Women in Business and Government awards ceremony held at the Gallagher Estates Convention Centre in Gauteng on November 10th. This is the 14th significant business award that Ms. Hirsch has won over the last 4 years.
CEO Global hosted the Awards ceremony after a series of regional events celebrated in eight countries throughout the African continent, leading up to the Continental Gala Dinner, where the winners for the whole continent were announced.
Commenting on the caliber of the finalists at the Awards evening, Chief Executive Officer of CEO Global, Annelize Wepener said: “We have amazing talent on this continent. The women selected as our finalists have overcome profound leadership challenges and are united in effecting change, and creating opportunities for those around them.”
Ms. Hirsch inspires aspiring business women to never give up on their dreams – something that she has never done. Having won so many awards herself, she has seen the effect it’s had on her company, and herself, personally. “I would like to see this happening to other women in business,” she stated when she decided to launch the Margaret Hirsch Business Woman of the Year Award in each area in which her company operates throughout South Africa. Her words of encouragement to other women business owners were inspiring: “As women, we tend not to be assertive enough. There are so many fantastic women out there who are not coming forward to be acknowledged for their contribution to the business world, and I would like to encourage them to enter the competition or nominate a friend or business owner who they would like to be recognized for this award. If you think you are a successful business woman, don’t be too shy to enter yourself!”
She regularly visits school girls throughout South Africa to tell them about the Girls with Dignity project, initiated by Sue Barnes in KZN. “Many South Africans have no idea that there is a large percentage of the school-going population that only attends school for three weeks out of every month, because they have their periods and cannot afford the necessary sanitary protection to cope,” she explained. About the girls she is determined to help. In her conversations with school girls throughout her travels to many rural areas, she makes it a point to stress that they will always have a choice: to stay at home, or go to school and be successful. Ms. Hirsch makes it a point to hand out packs of underwear and sanitary napkins to the girls. “The average school attendance has now increased from 40% to 80%. Better attendance, better self esteem,” she states.
Ms. Hirsch attended the 9th IWEC Conference in Turkey in November, together with two other businesswomen from Cape Town, Shona McDonald (who runs Shonaquip & Uhambo, a company making wheelchairs for children) and Wendy Kemp, owner of Accountability Group PTY, that offers risk management and credit card/financial services. The three women were nominated and received awards from the Chamber in recognition of their pioneering work in business.