Sahar Hashemi is best known as the co‐founder of the coffee shop chain Coffee Republic and the confectionery brand Skinny Candy in the UK. The book she wrote with her brother Bobby, called Anyone Can Do It: Building Coffee Republic from our Kitchen Table, outlines how their coffee shop project moved from an idea to a high‐street brand that for a time rivalled the big US coffee chains. Read this brief biography and consider the challenge that follows.
Female Leaders: Sahar Hashemi
Sahar attended the City of London School for Girls and then studied law in Bristol. She worked for a very successful law firm for a few years before in 1995 she and her brother Bobby set out plans to open a US‐style coffee shop in London. The brand proved very successful and by 2001 there were 108 stores across the UK. This was the year Sahar left Coffee Republic to focus on other ventures.
The coffee shop soon went into decline and by 2009, after a number of shops had been closed, the business was sold to an Arab investment firm and now operates under the name Coffee Republic Trading. Sahar went on to write two books about her business management style and became more involved in charity work, including with The Prince’s Trust, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) Corporate Development Board and as a patron of the charity Child Bereavement UK. In 2005 she started a new business, Skinny Candy, which offers low‐fat sweets and chocolates, although in 2007 she sold 50% of the business to a partner. She has been a strong advocate for women in business and frequently speaks about innovation, entrepreneurship and women’s business issues. In 2012 she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and has received a number of other awards.
Challenge: Can ‘anyone do it’, as Sahar’s book suggests? Do you have to go to a privileged school, win a scholarship or have an elite career path? Is success about being ‘switched on’, as she suggests in her second book? Sahar’s view is that we all have the capacity to do great things, we just need to turn on our risk‐taking switch and have a go. What do you think about these ideas? Are you ‘just a nurse’ or ‘just a physio’ or ‘just a whatever’? Is what we are or who we are important in terms of us dreaming or trying for our dreams? Could mastery of project management skills help in terms of making a smoother transition for us all in terms of realising our dreams or reaching our career goals? Reflect on these questions as you consider what Sahar Hashemi achieved ‘from her kitchen table’.
