Sahar Hashemi
Motivational & Business Speaker
Biography
In 1995 Sahar Hashemi together with her brother Bobby founded Coffee Republic, and built it into one of the UK’s most recognised high street brands with a turnover of £30m. Giving up highly professional jobs, she a lawyer in London and he an investment banker in New York, they staked everything on a dream - and made Coffee Republic one of the main players in the ‘coffee revolution’ that transformed a nation of tea drinkers into one obsessed with ‘triple decaf half-caf lattes’.
Neither had any previous knowledge about retail or indeed coffee. But Sahar had developed a passion for the skinny lattes and fat free muffins she had seen in New York. How they came to build a nationwide coffee chain is a fascinating and inspirational tale of the ups and downs of following your dream. From the first conversation when the seed of the idea was planted, to getting a DTI Small Firms Loan Guarantee, finding a name and opening the first store, it is a personal story about two people who stopped ‘thinking about it’ and ‘did it’.
Sahar left the day to day management of Coffee Republic in 2001 and has written a book called ‘Anyone Can Do It - Building Coffee Republic from our Kitchen table’ which tackles some of the fears and answers some of the elusive questions about what it really takes to become an entrepreneur.
Published in January 2003, ‘Anyone Can Do It’ has reached #1 on the Amazon business chart. It is ‘suggested reading’ for the London Business School entrepreneurship course and Chapter 1 has been included as part of the syllabus of the Entrepreneurship summer school. The book has also been endorsed by the DTI, Prince’s Trust and IoD and has received wide press coverage.
• Sahar has been named one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Britain 2003 by the Daily Mail, and was likewise listed as one of the most 20 most powerful women in Britain by Independent on Sunday. Sahar has made the cover of Management Today, Director and Business 550 magazines. Her media appearances include CNN Business Breakfast, BBC2, Radio 4, LBC, Radio 5 and BBC London amongst many others.
• She is a speaker ambassador for the Prince’s Trust and has spoken as keynote speaker at various high profile events including the IoD Women’s 2002 Summit, Wall Street Journal Europe Women In Business Summit and Enterprise 100.
• Sahar lectures at the London Business School Entrepreneurship summer school.
Sahar is currently working on developing a brand of ‘Anyone Can Do It’ books and a possible ‘Anyone Can Do It’ television series.
Sahar Hashemi is a popular speaker on the international conference circuit, and has spoken throughout the UK, Europe and the Middle East for clients such as diverse as Microsoft, Novartis, Royal Bank of Scotland and Accenture.
She is also a popular choice for trade associations and government bodies such as Business Link, IoD and the CBI.
In 2006, she found time to set up a new business - Skinny Candy - a range of natural sugar free sweets such as cola bottles, chocolate raisins, etc. which are now stocked in a range of department stores around the UK, which is tipped to become another success.
Other achievements include being named a "Pioneer to the life of the nation" by Her Majesty the Queen, and appearing on cover of countless business magazines and supplements including Management Today, Director, Business 550 and The Observer.
Expertise
Speaking Topics:
• Entrepreneurship
• Self Motivation
• Creativity
• Innovation
• Customer Service
• Brand Building
• Women in Business
* The Entrepreneurial Mindset
* Anyone Can Do It - the system of making it happen
* Intrapreneurship - sparking the entrepreneurial spirit within large organisations
* Brand building and marketing - the entrepreneurs' way
For more information on Sahar Hashemi and booking inquiries
please get in contact by email:
office@international-business-speakers.com
or call +43 (0)1 740 40 80 20