Endorsements from Business Entrepreneurs

Sahar Hashemi

Sahar Hashemi set up Coffee Republic with her brother Bobby in 1995 and has built it into one of the UK's most recognised high street brands. The pair both gave up high-profile jobs - she was a lawyer, he was an investment banker in New York - to stake everything on fulfilling a dream.

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. Living by her own motto “leap and the net will appear”, they followed their gut instinct to set up New York-style coffee shops in the UK.

After their business plan was rejected 19 times, they finally found a bank willing to lend them the £90,000 necessary to start the business. "Rejection is part and parcel of being an entrepreneur,” says Sahar. “The only way to get a 'yes' is to go through the minefield of rejections.”

The first six months were, by her own admission, “a disaster”. She employed her first staff without interview and subsequently found out they couldn’t speak English; sales were only £200 a day when break-even was £700; and supplier relationships were tough because they had the “liability of newness”. She says. "I realised quickly that any venture needs persistence and stickability."

It was April 1996 when Coffee Republic began to break even, and soon other stores began to open around London. In 1997 it became a publicly listed company on the Alternative Investment Market, and it now has more than 100 coffee shops around the UK and a turnover of more than £50m.
 

Sahar left the day to day management of Coffee Republic in 2001. Her book

Anyone Can Do It – Building Coffee Republic from our Kitchen Table,

published in January 2003, reached No.1 on the Amazon business chart and

has been endorsed by the DTI, Prince’s Trust and Institute of Directors (IoD).

Sahar was named one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Britain 2003 by

the Daily Mail. She has made the cover of Management Today, Director and

Business 550 magazines and made many media appearances.

She is a speaker ambassador for the Prince’s Trust and has been a 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.
She lectures at the London Business School Entrepreneurship summer school. 
 

Sahar was recently named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, one of 237 leaders chosen from 8000 candidates to build a 'community of extraordinary leaders who are under 40 and are exceptional on a global level'.

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