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Sahar Hashemi
Photo: Iclif Executive Education Centre at ASB, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons8

Sahar Hashemi

British businesswoman

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 co-chaired the UK government Scale Up Taskforce shaping government policy towards growing SMEs.2

From Wikipedia’s article on Sahar Hashemi (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born 1968.1

About

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 founded 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.

From Wikipedia’s article on Sahar Hashemi, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

  • Date not recordedUniversity of Bristol3
  • Date not recordedCity of London School for Girls3

Sahar Hashemi attended City of London School for Girls, obtaining a corporation exhibition scholarship. She studied law at the University of Bristol. 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).

From Wikipedia’s article on Sahar Hashemi (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: motivational speaker.5

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 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.

In 2005, Hashemi launched confectionery brand Skinny Candy, producing low-fat sweets and chocolates. The range was distributed in Coffee Republic, Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, Top Shop, Julian Graves and Waitrose. In 2007, Hashemi sold 50% of Skinny Candy to Glisten Plc.

From Wikipedia’s article on Sahar Hashemi (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Philanthropy

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 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.

From Wikipedia’s article on Sahar Hashemi (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Awards

  • Date not recordedOfficer of the Order of the British Empire6

Sources

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