In her 26-year journey in the motor industry, Gwen Truter has proven perseverance, passion, and belief in yourself can break barriers and inspire others.
Truter, the manager of tyre dealership Point-S in Kuils River, was recently announced the Western Cape finalist for the Motor Industry Staff Association’s (Misa) Woman of the Year 2025. Misa is a registered trade union for employees in the retail motor industry in South Africa.
The winner of this annual competition will be announced at a prestigious event in November.
Foundation
When Truter first stepped into the motor industry in 1999, she didn’t simply start a job—she laid the foundations, quite literally. Alongside her husband Patrick, she helped open a tyre dealership for a business owner. “We put down every tile, every plastic mat from scratch,” she recalls.
It was the start of a journey that would span more than two decades, marked by grit, setbacks, and triumph.
Just two years later, the shop was sold. The new owner took Truter with him without hesitation.
When she realised she was being steered away from the trade she had come to love, Truter made a bold decision. “I said, sorry, this is where the bus stops, and this is where I want to stay.”
Woman enough
She returned as a salesperson, determined to carve out her own future in the industry.
All was going well—until her husband decided to resign from his role. Truter decided to hand in her own CV for the position of branch manager.
What followed would become a pivotal moment in her story.
“The harshest words anyone could’ve said to me were, ‘It’s not in a woman’s pants to be a branch manager’,” she recounts.
That statement, intended to deter, only lit a fire.
Confidence
Not long after, a call came from a company that had heard—through the grapevine—that she was unhappy in her current role. They were looking for a branch manager and invited Truter for an interview.
The interview was held in Stikland. “When I got there, it hit me: I was number 54. No ‘hello’, no ‘how are you’—just number 54. There and then I knew, I had to have faith in myself.”
She did just that.
When asked why the company should hire her, Truter responded with confidence: “Stop the bus here—you need me, I don’t need you.” When questioned about where she saw herself in five years, she answered: “Obviously sitting behind your desk, doing your job.”
They hired her.
On her first day the CEO took her on a tour of the branches. To her delight, each of the three was run by a woman.
“I knew this was where I belonged.”
Gwen Truter
She thrived.
She began as a branch manager and, over the next eight years, rose through the ranks to become an area manager, overseeing six branches.
Her reputation and leadership continued to grow.
Then, in 2018, Patrick had a bold idea: to buy the very business he’d been working at since 1999. “There went my pension,” she laughs. “But I knew it was for the legacy of our family.”
Seven years on, the business is thriving. “We’re still standing,” Truter says proudly. “We’re classified as top dogs in the trade.”
As a Misa Woman of the Year finalist, Truter reflects on her journey with the same spirit that’s defined her career.
Her message to other women is clear: “If you’ve got a dream, don’t give up on it. Don’t let others tell you what you can or can’t do. If you believe in yourself, go for it. Be someone else’s inspiration. If someone’s having a bad day, a hug costs nothing… Uplift each other.”
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