Sahar Hashemi’s approach to entrepreneurship is beguilingly simple and can be summed up with her two pet phrases: “Anyone can do it “and “Just get on with it.” She proved the truth of these principles when, with her brother Bobby, she started one of the UK’s first coffee chains from the comfort of their kitchen table. In just five years they changed the face of the UK high street with over 100 Coffee Republic coffee bars.
Sahar left the £30m turnover company in 2001 and wrote a book ‘Anyone Can Do It - Building Coffee Republic from our kitchen table’ which has become a UK business best-seller and topped the Amazon chart.
Since 2001 she has built a reputation as an excellent speaker using her own unique style and delivery to inspire audiences to “just get on with it”.
But starting Coffee Republic wasn’t part of some grand retailing plan – Sahar had recently resigned from her position as a lawyer with one of the UK’s top law firms, while Bobby was a Wall Street investment banker.
Sahar stumbled across the coffee bar phenomenon one morning in New York, while visiting Bobby, and – not realising it was the next big thing - fell in love with skinny lattes and couldn’t bear life in London without them. It was this passion for good coffee that accidentally turned her into an entrepreneur.
Many different institutions have recognised her achievements as an outstanding entrepreneur. In 2005 the World Economic Forum (Davos) named Sahar a Young Global Leader while in 2003 Her Majesty the Queen named Sahar a “Pioneer to the life of the nation”. Fellow pioneers include 10 Nobel Prize winners together with a diverse range of remarkable people including Stephen Hawking, James Dyson, David Trimble, Sir Paul McCartney and Nelson Mandela.
The Daily Mail included her in their 100 Most Influential Women in Britain list for 2003, while Management Today listed her in their 35 Top Women in British Business in the same year.
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Speaking to the Footdown Fifteen was a real pleasure. The members were challenging and well informed. It’s rare to find so many successful people in one room. If I lived in the area, I’d want to be a member.