About Sahar Hashemi

The internationally recognized speaker Sahar Hashemi inspires audiences with her captivating and moving keynotes combining her own story with key themes of entrepreneurial leadership, change management and employee engagement. Sahar co-founded Coffee Republic, the first US-style coffee bar chain in the UK with her brother. It became one of the first players in the ‘coffee revolution’ that transformed the UK high street, and became one of the UK’s most recognized high street brands with a turnover of £30m.

In 2001, she published her first book “Anyone Can Do It” which became an international best-seller; it was the 2nd highest selling book on entrepreneurship after Richard Branson’s book. Her most recent book “Startup Forever” includes important and relevant mindsets and takeaways for anyone who is looking to think and act more like an entrepreneur. The eye-opening messages from “Startup Forever” have been implemented into her keynotes where she focuses on growing a winning mindset and encourage innovative thinking.

Sahar has been presented with numerous awards and titles. In 2011 she was nominated as one of the Top 10 Original Thinkers by Director Magazine, a title that individuals such as Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web and Jonathan Ives, Vice-President of Design at Apple also share. In June 2012 Sahar was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honors list “for services to the UK economy and to charity”. She was additionally named ‘Pioneer to the life of the nation’ by Her Majesty The Queen and Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in Davos.