Sahar Hashemi

Sahar Hashemi is a business leader in the British food and drinks industry. She is the co-founder of coffee chain Coffee Republic and confectionary brand Skinny Candy.

Hashemi originally studied law at the University of Bristol, before training as a lawyer and practising at Frere Cholmeley Solicitors. In 1995, she and her brother founded Coffee Republic, which grew into one of Britain’s best-loved and most well-known high street coffee chains. She is a true entrepreneur, having started up the business with relatively little funding and nurtured the company to turnover of over £30m. She left the day-to-day running of the business in 2001, and went on to found Skinny Candy, the sugar free sweets brand, in 2005. As well as founding multiple successful businesses, Hashemi has written three books, the first based on her journey to found Coffee Republic with her brother. Titled Anyone Can Do It, the book is the second highest entrepreneurship book of all time. Her second book, Switched On, was published in 2010, and she released Start Up Forever in 2019.

Her unique knowledge of the corporate world, start up culture, and big business means she is a prolific speaker and advisor to many companies and groups around the globe. She is co-chair of the Government Scale Up Taskforce, as well as a key member of business charity The Princes Trust. In 2012 she was awarded an OBE for her services to to charity and the UK economy.