{"id":825568,"date":"2025-05-26T16:06:50","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T14:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=825568"},"modified":"2025-05-26T16:06:50","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T14:06:50","slug":"the-man-who-failed-grade-10-and-became-a-multi-millionaire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/825568\/the-man-who-failed-grade-10-and-became-a-multi-millionaire\/","title":{"rendered":"The man who failed grade 10 and became a multi-millionaire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Allan Hirsch, who founded Hirsch\u2019s Homestore with his wife, Margaret, is one of South Africa\u2019s most successful businessmen. However, his path to success was unique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is an example of someone who came from humble beginnings and overcame numerous personal challenges to become successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hirsch told the show, It\u2019s More Than Just Money<\/a><\/strong>, that he did not perform well academically and had numerous challenges at school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was held back in grade 2 and failed grade 4. His parents then decided to move me to a school with smaller classes because I was \u2018not as bright as other children\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After completing primary school, he moved to Pietermaritzburg Technical School where he focused on electrical work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He aimed to complete grade 10, leave school, and become a fridge mechanic. However, he failed grade 10, which changed his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI went to my dad with my report card, which had red rings around all my marks. My father told me that I must realise that I would never get a matric,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe advised me to study to become a tradesman, saying I could get a bakkie one day and start my own business. The seed about starting a business was planted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He completed his compulsory military training and then started working at Fuchsware as an apprentice to fix electrical appliances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four years into his five-year apprenticeship, he met Margaret, and they were married eleven months later. They moved into a small flat in Durban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that stage, he was set to be a mechanic fixing fridges and air conditioners for the rest of his life. \u201cI had no ambition at that stage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, everything changed after his neighbour advised him to see a professor specialising in learning disabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was diagnosed with dyslexia and was helped to overcome his learning disability. \u201cAfter that, I believed I could do anything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting his own business<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Allan and Margaret Hirsch<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Hirsch and his wife bought a piece of land in the North of Durban and want to build a house for their family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He asked his manager at Fuchsware if he could work close to his new property to oversee the construction, and he agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people in the region asked him to fix their appliances. However, he said it was not allowed as he worked for Fuchsware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The people complained that the service from the local repair company was poor, and that they would prefer that he help them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He approached the company head, who also owned Atlas Radio, and said he could address the poor service levels. Three months later, they struck a deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They opened a new company, called EAR (Electrical Appliance Repair company), in which Hirsch had a 40% shareholding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the business model extended beyond repairs. When an appliance could not be fixed, they would sell the client a new appliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it did not work out as expected. Most clients whose appliances could not be fixed went to a discount store instead of using the company to buy a new appliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hirsch advised his business partner to sell appliances at the same price as the discount store to ensure they kept their customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he told Hirsch that he should not tell him how to run his business and should focus on the repairs, as per the agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He breached the subject again eighteen months later, after he and his wife had two kids, Richard and Luci.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time, his business partner told him that he should start his own business if he thought it was such a good idea. This is exactly what he did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hirsch\u2019s started in 1979<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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In 1979, with only R900 in his pocket, he started Hirsch\u2019s Electrical Repairs with his wife, Margaret. This is despite having just built a home and having two young children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He hired premises for which he paid R300 rent, he spent another R300 on electricity, and the other R300 he spent on marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their initial showroom was a tiny space in Umhlanga Rocks Drive in Durban North, no bigger than a bathroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four people who worked with him at his previous company said they want to work for him and joined the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hirsch\u2019s Electrical Repairs showed strong growth on the concept of excellent customer service, integrity, and focusing on the basics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1984, they moved into bigger premises, expanding the business and the Hirsch brand. The Hirsch\u2019s Homestore brand followed, and it was a great success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company evolved into a chain of mega appliance and home furnishing stores in KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Town, and Gauteng, offering top brands and quality service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Hirsch\u2019s is a prominent name in the appliance and electronics industry with 19 branches and concept stores across South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is the largest independently owned appliance and electronics retailer in Southern Africa, with well over a billion rand in turnover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople often ask me the secret to success, and I tell them there\u2019s no secret. You have to focus on the basics. Customer service is a basic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have always tried to remember and implement the little things, like greeting a customer, smiling, walking them back to the till and carrying their parcels to the car.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Inside Hirsch\u2019s<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Allan Hirsch, the founder of Hirsch\u2019s Homestore, a South African retail powerhouse, tells how he failed grade 10 and went on to become a highly successful businessman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":825583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[22650,22652,22651],"class_list":["post-825568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-allan-hirsch","tag-hirschs-2","tag-hirschs-homestore"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=825568"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":825653,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825568\/revisions\/825653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/825583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}