Fourways businesswomen make waves at awards

Local businesswomen made Fourways proud at a recent awards evening hosted by Hirsch’s.

The Margaret Hirsch 2018 Regional Women in Business Achiever of the Year awards evening that was held at Emperors Palace in Kempton Park on 2 November saw over 500 people, including top entrepreneurs and businesswomen from around Gauteng attending the event to see who would be announced as the regional and branch winners. Besides a winner for the local branch, a Fourways business was also one of the runners-up for the regional award.

The event was co-sponsored by Grundig, one of Hirsch’s most valued suppliers. Guest speaker at the event, Melanie Hawken, the founder and chief executive of Lionesses of Africa and a Champion of Africa’s Women Entrepreneurs, congratulated Margaret’s initiative for holding the event, and for being a great inspiration to businesswomen throughout Southern Africa. Entertainment for the evening was from cabaret queen Sasha Le Strange.

Announcing the winners, Margaret, who started the competition countrywide six years ago after winning several awards herself over the years, said she could see how much of an impact the acknowledgement of her own success had been and wanted to see more women in this position.

“Awards give credibility to one’s business and as women, we tend to shy away from being in the limelight,” Margaret said.

“We also tend not to be assertive enough. This was my way of encouraging women to put themselves and their businesses in the spotlight. The winners and runners-up are people who not only run successful businesses but who are making a difference to the lives of others in all the areas in which they live – and ultimately, the lives of people in South Africa.”

The Gauteng Regional winner of the Margaret Hirsch Woman in Business Achiever of the Year award was Dr Tamara Pheiffer, a leader in the field of anti-ageing medicine. She has lectured both nationally and internationally for the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine and is a leader in Africa for Medical Biohacking. Over the last two years, her business has grown by 300 per cent.

Pamela Niemand from Fourways was chosen as a runner-up regionally and is a property entrepreneur with a wealth of experience in the industry.

Her business, Westpoint Executive Suites grew, over a three-year period from six to 68 apartments, and in the last three years has run at 99 per cent occupancy. She is the current Mrs Johannesburg amongst various titles.

Amukelani Mashele from the Silverlakes Hirsch’s branch was also a runner-up.

Kathryn Main was the branch winner for Fourways. She is the chief executive officer of Main Multimedia and Money Savvy Kids. Main Multimedia works hand-in-hand with a financial literacy business and is moving into the African continent to educate the youth on financial literacy and entrepreneurship.

Other Fourways finalists were Kirsten Long of Coaching Culture Clubs, Brenda Hill of Beautiful Life, Debbie Botha of Core Business Training Solutions, Michele Thwaits of Empower4Success, Kerry Walsh the motivational speaker, Vivienne Black of Tech Luggage, Zoe Wort of Bernard Inc, Marika Scott, Jacie Scott-Thomas of Comp-U-Train and entrepreneur Tracy Wolf.