Sahar Hashemi (born 1967) is a British businesswoman, best known as the co-founder of the coffee chain

Coffee Republic Coffee Republic is a British coffee bar and deli franchise chain founded in 1995. History Coffee Republic was founded in 1995 by brother and sister team Bobby and Sahar Hashemi, opening its first site in London's South Molton Street. I ...

and confectionery brand Skinny Candy. She recently co-chaired the UK government Scale Up Taskforce shaping government policy towards growing SMEs. She currently sits on the board of the Scale Up Institute, and the advisory board of the ''ECB'' HUNDRED Cricket Competition and Change Please Coffee, a social enterprise that trains and hires homeless people to run coffee bars. In 2022 she launched Buy Women Built a campaign to bring consumer recognition to women built brands in the UK. She was a judge at the 2020 Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.

Early life and career

Sahar Hashemi attended

City of London School for Girls The City of London School for Girls (CLSG) is a private school adjacent to the Barbican Centre, part of the Barbican Estate, in the City of London. It is the partner school of the all-boys City of London School and the City of London Freemen's ...

, obtaining a corporation exhibition scholarship. She studied law at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

. Upon graduation, Hashemi trained and qualified as a solicitor with Frere Cholmeley Bischoff's (a 200-year-old firm in Lincoln's Inn Fields that folded in 1998).

Coffee Republic

Alongside brother

Bobby Bobby or Bobbie may refer to: People *Bobby (given name), a list of names * Bobby (surname), a list of surnames * Bobby (actress), from Bangladesh * Bobby (rapper) (born 1995), from South Korea * Bobby (screenwriter) (born 1983), Indian screenwrit ...

, Hashemi developed and co-founded Coffee Republic, the UK's first US-style coffee bar chain. The first site opened on

South Molton Street South Molton Street is a street in Mayfair, London, that runs from Oxford Street to Brook Street. Bond Street tube station, Bond Street Underground station is at the north end of the street. The street was built in the mid-18th century as part ...

in 1995. The group was listed on

AIM AIM or Aim may refer to: Computing * AIM alliance, an Apple-IBM-Motorola alliance * AIM (software), AOL Instant Messenger * Fortyfive, a Japanese software development company previously known as AIM Military * Abrams Integrated Management, an ...

in 1998 by reversing into Arion Properties. Coffee Republic switched from AIM to the full list in July 2000. The chain had opened 108 stores by 2001, when Hashemi left the firm to write ''Anyone Can Do It: Building Coffee Republic from Our Kitchen Table''.

Books

''Start Up Forever''

Published in 2019 by Troubador Publishing, ''Start Up Forever'' (ISBN 978-1789016345) is the culmination of her work speaking to 400 organisations about the actionable, practical steps that can bring out anyone’s inner entrepreneur. It was named ''The Financial Times'' Best Business Book of the Month in March 2019.

''Anyone Can Do It''

Published in 2003 by

John Wiley & Sons John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Publishing, publishing company that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company was founded in 1807 and pr ...

, ''Anyone Can Do It'' () was written jointly by Sahar and Bobby Hashemi and describes the journey of turning Coffee Republic from an idea into a high street brand. The book is aimed at budding

entrepreneurs Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

. The authors seek to dispel the idea that entrepreneurs are inherently "special" people. The book has been translated into six languages. It reached number 1 on the Amazon business chart and gathered endorsements from the DTI,

The Princes Trust The King's Trust (formerly the Prince's Trust) is a United Kingdom-based charity founded in 1976 by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are unempl ...

and

Institute of Directors The Institute of Directors (IoD) is a British professional organisation for company directors, senior business leaders and entrepreneurs. It is the UK's longest running organisation for professional leaders, having been founded in 1903 and inco ...

Skinny Candy

In 2005, Hashemi launched confectionery brand Skinny Candy, producing low-fat sweets and chocolates. The range was distributed in Coffee Republic,

Harvey Nichols Harvey Nichols Group Limited ( trading as Harvey Nichols) is a British luxury department store chain founded in 1831 by Benjamin Harvey; it is headquartered at its flagship store in Knightsbridge, London. It sells designer fashion collections ...

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of upmarket department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1908. The historic Daniel Burnham-designed Self ...

, Top Shop,

Julian Graves Julian Graves was a health food retailer, with 189 stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland, selling health foods, a limited range of kitchenware, baking ingredients and confectionery items. NBTY (which also owned Holland and Barrett) acquired t ...

and

Waitrose Waitrose Limited, trading as Waitrose & Partners, is a British supermarket chain, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. In 1937, it was acquired by the John Lewis Partnership, the UK's largest employee-owned b ...

. In 2007, Hashemi sold 50% of Skinny Candy to Glisten Plc.

Charity work

Hashemi is a supporter of

, donating a portion of royalties of ''Anyone Can Do It'' to the youth charity. She sits on the

NSPCC The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is a British child protection charity founded as the Liverpool Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (LSPCC) by Thomas Agnew on 19 April 1883. The NSPCC lobbies t ...

Corporate Development Board and is a Patron of Child Bereavement UK. She fronted a government campaign in 2004 for Skills for Business to encourage employers to develop staff skills.

Awards and recognition

She was appointed Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in the

2012 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours List 2012 was released on 16 June 2012 in the United Kingdom, on 11 June 2012 in Australia on 4 June 2012 in New Zealand,Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

''. *

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

, Davos:

Young Global Leader Forum of Young Global Leaders, or Young Global Leaders (YGL), is a non-profit organization. The organization was created by Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum and is managed from Geneva, Switzerland, under the supervision of the Sw ...

* ''Management Today'': Top 35 Women in British business under 35 * ''Independent on Sunday'': 20 most powerful women in Britain

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hashemi, Sahar Alumni of the University of Bristol British women in business British motivational speakers Businesspeople in coffee Living people National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children people Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at the City of London School for Girls 1967 births