Sahar Hashemi (born 1967) is a British businesswoman, best known as the co-founder of the coffee chain Coffee Republic 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 (''O Lord Direct us'') , established = 1894 , closed = , type = Independent day school , religion = , president = , head_label = Headmistress , head = Jenny Brown , r_head_label = ...

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

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a Red brick university, red brick Russell Group research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Society of Merchant Venturers, Merchant Venturers' sc ...

. 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, 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 Underground station is at the north end of the street. The street was built in the mid-18th century as part of the Conduit Mead Estate ...

in 1995. The group was listed on AIM 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 publishing company founded in 1807 that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company produces books, journals, and encyclopedias, i ...

, ''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. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

. 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 DTI may refer to: Science and technology * Deep trench isolation; See Shallow trench isolation * Dial test indicator * Direct trader input, in the history of electronic data interchange * Diffusion tensor imaging, a structural medical imaging tech ...

, The Princes Trust 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 is a British luxury department store chain founded in 1831, at its flagship store in Knightsbridge, London. It sells designer fashion collections for men and women, fashion accessories, beauty products, fine wines and luxury f ...

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridg ...

, Top Shop, Julian Graves and

Waitrose Waitrose & Partners (formally Waitrose Limited) is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still se ...

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

Charity work

Hashemi is a supporter of The Princes Trust, 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. History Victorian era On a trip to New York in 1881, Liverpudlian businessman Thomas Agnew was inspired by a visit to the New Y ...

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 contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established 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 publis ...

''. *

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

, Davos:

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

* ''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