Margaret Hirsch's South Korea

The co-founder of Hirsch’s in South Africa was touched by the warmth and passion of everyone on the streets of Seoul.

- Karen Mwendera

Having grown up in Pietermaritzburg, in South Africa’s KwaZulu- Natal province, South Africa, Margaret Hirsch, the Chief Operations Executive and co-founder of Hirsch’s Homestore, never imagined that she would one day carry an Olympic torch down the streets of Seoul, South Korea.

Hirsch, with her husband Allan, had the honor of representing South Africa at the 2018 Winter Olympics by carrying the torch in the first leg of the relay towards the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium on December 16, 2017. Carrying an Olympic torch is a big deal. It’s a role usually reserved for influential people, such as athletes, actors, musicians, and politicians.

Hirsch had been to South Korea before but says this trip was one she’d never forget.

After being told that the CEO of Samsung Electronics, Boo-Keun Yoon, selected and her husband to be the official South African Torch Bearers, she immediately started to work out.