- Conference Speakers
Topics:
- Business
- Entrepreneurs/Innovation
- Leadership
- Marketing & Branding
- Sales/Customer Service
- Women In The World
Sahar Hashemi
Inspirational business speaker, SAHAR HASHEMI has an extraordinarily powerful story of her journey from lawyer to entrepreneur to best-selling author!
Lawyer turned Entrepreneur
Sahar Hashemi founded Coffee Republic, the Uk’s first US style coffee bar chain with her brother 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.
Best-selling Author
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. Its a personal story about two people who stopped ‘thinking about it’ and ‘did it’. ‘Anyone Can Do It’ has reached number 1 on the Amazon business chart. It is ‘suggested reading’ for the London Business School entrepreneurship course. Anyone Can Do It has become the 2nd highest selling book ever published in the UK on entrepreneurship after Richard Branson's book- according to Nielsen Bookscan
Accolades
- Named by H.M. The Queen ‘Pioneer to the life of the Nation’
- ‘Young Global Leader’ World Economic Forum Davos
- '100 Most Influential Women in Britain' Daily Mail
- 'Top 35 Women in British business under 35' Management Today
- '20 most powerful women in Britain' Independent on Sunday
- 'Survey of inspirational role models' Shell liveWIRE:
1. Richard Branson
2. Friends/family
3. Anita Roddick
4. James Dyson
5. Sahar Hashemi - 'Speaker Ambassador' Prince’s Trust
- Fronted UK government Skills campaign
Latest Venture
Now she’s doing it again ...
In 2005 Sahar launched Skinny Candy, a high profile brand of sugar free sweets. It has already received wide press coverage and is available across big department store chains throughout the UK.
Speaking Topics
- Entrepreneurship
- Innovation
- Customer Service
- Marketing
- Branding
- Women in business
- Leadership
Client Comments
"Sahar Hashemi took her audience on a 30-minute ride-taking them through a heart-tugging and sincere tale of how she made it big in business ... Her story was a little like the Alchemist, and the audience wouldn’t stop clapping even after Hashemi stepped down from the stage”
Exchange4Media
"Speakers included Former Prime Minister of Spain but the young woman, Sahar Hashemi, stole the show”
Advertising Age
“Sahar, you were amazing. You scored 97% on evaluation forms – highest score ever”
IBM
“Sahar’s passion for encouraging innovation energises room. It’s the verbal equivalent of a double espresso from the Coffee Republic chain she co-founded”
London innovation Conference 2004
“She connected with the audience at an emotional level and made a lasting impression ... 8/8”
Microsoft
“You were mindblowingly marvellous – highest score of all 13 speakers – 3.93 of the possible high of 4!”
Innotown Norway
“We have had many speakers address our audience of business owners – but the feedback after Sahar's story was exceptional”
IBS/Amway
“General Colin Powell was outstanding but Sahar Hashemi earned top marks on the evaluation sheets”
Yorkshire International Business Convention
“Sahar's presentation was a total sell-out as even all her books were sold in half an hour!” Global Leadership Forum Malaysia
“Sahar was like a breath of fresh air”
Police Strategic Command Course
“It is always inspirational to hear the story from someone who has really pursued their dream and made it come true, particularly in such a down to earth fashion”
GlaxoSmithKline
