Lawyer-turned-entrepreneur Sahar Hashemi has used her deep knowledge of both the corporate and start-up worlds to become an internationally recognized thought leader on the entrepreneurial mindset. As the founder of two disruptive businesses and the author of a bestselling book on entrepreneurship, she understands entrepreneurial behaviour to the core. She... Read more
Lawyer-turned-entrepreneur Sahar Hashemi has used her deep knowledge of both the corporate and start-up worlds to become an internationally recognized thought leader on the entrepreneurial mindset. As the founder of two disruptive businesses and the author of a bestselling book on entrepreneurship, she understands entrepreneurial behaviour to the core. She also understands corporate behaviour, having evolved from her early corporate law career to witnessing the transformation of culture as her start-up grew into a large company. Over the last decade, she has spoken to over 400 large organizations. This unique combination of personal experience in both worlds gives her a deep perspective on entrepreneurial behaviours, what blocks them in big organizations, and what it takes to unleash them.
Sahar is currently the force behind Buy Women Built, an incredibly fast-growing movement to fill the £250bn gap in female entrepreneurship in the UK by bringing consumer recognition to women-built brands. She got the idea during the first Covid lockdown, and the community behind the movement has now grown to over 2,000 brands, with a combined turnover of £2.5bn.
Her latest book, Start-Up Forever: How to Build A Start-Up Culture in a Big Company, released in March 2019, was named The Financial Times Best Business Book of the Month.
Sahar was listed in the Maserati 100, a definitive list of Britain’s most successful philanthropists, investors, mentors, and advisors. In June 2012, she was awarded an OBE for services to the UK economy and charity. She has been named a “Pioneer to the Life of the Nation” by Her Majesty The Queen and was recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. Director magazine nominated her as one of its Top 10 Original Thinkers, alongside Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Sir Jonathan Ive.
Sahar left her legal career at a top London law firm after five years to start Coffee Republic, the UK’s first US-style coffee bar chain, with her brother Bobby. In five years, they built it into one of the UK’s most recognized high street brands, with 110 bars and a turnover of £30m. She then founded Skinny Candy, a brand of sugar-free sweets, which was sold to confectionery conglomerate Glisten PLC in 2007.
She published a bestselling book about her journey, Anyone Can Do It, to demystify the idea that entrepreneurship is an innate personality trait. It has been translated into six languages and is the second-highest-selling book on entrepreneurship after Richard Branson’s.
Sahar sits on the board of Curaden AG, a Swiss dental company, and serves as a special advisor for the UK arm to launch the brand in the UK. She also sits on the boards of the Scale Up Institute, Digital Boost, and Change Please Coffee.