
Sahar Hashemi OBE
Why book Sahar Hashemi OBE?
- Sahar Hashemi OBE built some of the UK’s most disruptive consumer brands, including Coffee Republic and Buy Women Built , giving audiences direct insight into innovation, entrepreneurial thinking and scaling bold ideas
- She helps organisations reconnect with the human behaviours that drive innovation — curiosity, courage, customer focus and momentum — particularly in fast-changing and AI-influenced environments
- Sahar combines powerful storytelling with practical commercial insight, delivering highly engaging talks for organisations including Coca-Cola, UBS, Deloitte, Sanofi, Bupa and Bank of America
Biography
A visionary entrepreneur who has built three game-changing businesses, Sahar Hashemi turns ideas into brands and reignites entrepreneurial energy where it’s been lost. From revolutionising coffee culture with Coffee Republic to building Buy Women Built into a powerful brand, she proves that momentum-not waiting for certainty-creates change.
But in many organisations, that momentum is hard to find. Too often, structures, processes, and habits built for a different era remain, even as customers, competitors, and industries evolve. The result? Ways of thinking and working that no longer match the speed of the world outside. Entrepreneurial energy—the very force that drives innovation, momentum, and bold action—gets buried. It is lost under layers of process, fear, and the comfort of certainty. Leaders hesitate. Decision-making slows. Over-cautiousness takes hold. Customer connection fades. And with it, so does growth
Sahar Hashemi knows how to ignite entrepreneurial energy—because she’s done it again and again. She has turned ideas from scratch into brands that disrupt industries and shift consumer behaviour.
She transformed the UK from a nation of tea drinkers to coffee lovers when she co-founded Coffee Republic , the country’s first US-style coffee chain. She changed consumer habits again with Skinny Candy , bringing sugar-free treats into the mainstream.
And now, with Buy Women Built (BWB) , she has not just built a brand but a movement—one that is redefining how consumers and retailers see women-built brands.
What started as a single tweet during the pandemic is now a commercial movement, transforming how consumers see women-built brands. With a community of 2,000+ women-built businesses generating over £2.5 billion in turnover, BWB is shifting buying habits at scale. BWB launched the world’s first women-built “aisle” on Ocado, proving that visibility drives sales. Major retailers, including Whole Foods, QVC, Planet Organic, and TikTok Shop, have embraced BWB, integrating it into their stores and platforms.
Her pioneering book, Anyone Can Do It , was the first to strip away the myths of entrepreneurship and reveal its messy, real-world reality, inspiring thousands of entrepreneurs worldwide. It became the UK’s second highest-selling book on entrepreneurship. Her insights into how bureaucracy, perfectionism, and the need for certainty kill momentum led to Start-Up Forever , a Financial Times Book of the Month, and a playbook for leaders to keep the startup spark alive, before it gets buried.
Her contributions have been recognised globally: a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, a Pioneer to the Life of the Nation by Queen Elizabeth II, and in 2012 an OBE for services to the economy and charity. She has been a member of the UK Secretary of State for Business’ Entrepreneurs Forum and co-chaired UK Government Scale Up Taskforce with the Minister for Business.
Sahar doesn’t give the audience’s theory. She reconnects them to what they already have: the energy, creativity, and courage buried under old habits, process, and fear.
Through powerful storytelling and real-world experience, she reignites the urgency to move, the boldness to act, and the deep connection to customers that fuels innovation and impact.
Topics
The Courage Hack – Start Up Forever
Fear doesn’t announce itself. It disguises itself as strategy, professionalism, best practice. Through her own story of building Coffee Republic from nothing to 100 stores, Sahar dismantles the myth that entrepreneurs are fearless and shows your teams the specific behaviours that disappear as companies grow. The real hack? Momentum, micro-leaps, and acting before you’re ready.
Human Edge in a World of AI
The behaviours that matter most in an AI world are the messy, human ones: customer closeness, scrappiness, acting on instinct. Sahar draws on three ventures and 400+ corporate keynotes to show your people the distinctly human qualities no algorithm can replicate.
Masterclasses
Masterclass 1
You may want to go deeper with your audience. Masterclasses can be tailored and developed to suit your audience needs, be it a 90-minute Masterclass , a half-day or full-day workshop or a full online or face-to-face programme. Please contact one of our expert team to discuss.
Testimonials
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Sahar Hashemi OBE
Visionary Entrepreneur, Best-Selling Author and Founder of Buy Women Built
why book sahar?
- Sahar Hashemi OBE built some of the UK’s most disruptive consumer brands, including Coffee Republic and Buy Women Built, giving audiences direct insight into innovation, entrepreneurial thinking and scaling bold ideas
- She helps organisations reconnect with the human behaviours that drive innovation — curiosity, courage, customer focus and momentum — particularly in fast-changing and AI-influenced environments
- Sahar combines powerful storytelling with practical commercial insight, delivering highly engaging talks for organisations including Coca-Cola, UBS, Deloitte, Sanofi, Bupa and Bank of America
“Sahar was the best-ranked speaker at our conference and did an amazing session. Her story, the engaging delivery and the quality of the Q&A set a very positive tone for our event and I’m sure will help drive our culture forward.”
Andrew Buckingham, Vice President of The Coca-Cola Company Middle East

Biography
A visionary entrepreneur who has built three game-changing businesses, Sahar Hashemi turns ideas into brands and reignites entrepreneurial energy where it’s been lost. From revolutionising coffee culture with Coffee Republic to building Buy Women Built into a powerful brand, she proves that momentum-not waiting for certainty-creates change.
But in many organisations, that momentum is hard to find. Too often, structures, processes, and habits built for a different era remain, even as customers, competitors, and industries evolve. The result? Ways of thinking and working that no longer match the speed of the world outside. Entrepreneurial energy—the very force that drives innovation, momentum, and bold action—gets buried. It is lost under layers of process, fear, and the comfort of certainty. Leaders hesitate. Decision-making slows. Over-cautiousness takes hold. Customer connection fades. And with it, so does growth
Sahar Hashemi knows how to ignite entrepreneurial energy—because she’s done it again and again. She has turned ideas from scratch into brands that disrupt industries and shift consumer behaviour.
She transformed the UK from a nation of tea drinkers to coffee lovers when she co-founded Coffee Republic, the country’s first US-style coffee chain. She changed consumer habits again with Skinny Candy, bringing sugar-free treats into the mainstream.
And now, with Buy Women Built (BWB), she has not just built a brand but a movement—one that is redefining how consumers and retailers see women-built brands.
What started as a single tweet during the pandemic is now a commercial movement, transforming how consumers see women-built brands. With a community of 2,000+ women-built businesses generating over £2.5 billion in turnover, BWB is shifting buying habits at scale. BWB launched the world’s first women-built “aisle” on Ocado, proving that visibility drives sales. Major retailers, including Whole Foods, QVC, Planet Organic, and TikTok Shop, have embraced BWB, integrating it into their stores and platforms.

Her pioneering book, Anyone Can Do It, was the first to strip away the myths of entrepreneurship and reveal its messy, real-world reality, inspiring thousands of entrepreneurs worldwide. It became the UK’s second highest-selling book on entrepreneurship. Her insights into how bureaucracy, perfectionism, and the need for certainty kill momentum led to Start-Up Forever, a Financial Times Book of the Month, and a playbook for leaders to keep the startup spark alive, before it gets buried.
Her contributions have been recognised globally: a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, a Pioneer to the Life of the Nation by Queen Elizabeth II, and in 2012 an OBE for services to the economy and charity. She has been a member of the UK Secretary of State for Business’ Entrepreneurs Forum and co-chaired UK Government Scale Up Taskforce with the Minister for Business.
Sahar doesn’t give the audience’s theory. She reconnects them to what they already have: the energy, creativity, and courage buried under old habits, process, and fear.
Through powerful storytelling and real-world experience, she reignites the urgency to move, the boldness to act, and the deep connection to customers that fuels innovation and impact.
Topics
The Courage Hack – Start Up Forever
Fear doesn’t announce itself. It disguises itself as strategy, professionalism, best practice. Through her own story of building Coffee Republic from nothing to 100 stores, Sahar dismantles the myth that entrepreneurs are fearless and shows your teams the specific behaviours that disappear as companies grow. The real hack? Momentum, micro-leaps, and acting before you’re ready.
Human Edge in a World of AI
The behaviours that matter most in an AI world are the messy, human ones: customer closeness, scrappiness, acting on instinct. Sahar draws on three ventures and 400+ corporate keynotes to show your people the distinctly human qualities no algorithm can replicate.
Women, Leadership & A Different Way to Build
As founder of Buy Women Built, a community of 2,000+ women founders, and from her own journey building Coffee Republic, Sahar has a unique window into how women lead, start, and scale businesses differently. She speaks about the untapped power of female leadership and entrepreneurship, and why the qualities women bring are exactly what organisations need more of right now.
Sahar Hashemi OBE
Masterclasses
You may want to go deeper with your audience. Masterclasses can be tailored and developed to suit your audience needs, be it a 90-minute Masterclass, a half-day or full-day workshop or a full online or face-to-face programme. Please contact one of our expert team to discuss.
Resources
Books

“Sahar was absolutely sensational. The perfect balance between personal and inspirational. So many learnings. Thank you.”
Dan Ram, Moderator, TED speaker, Speaker Coach
testimonials
“Sahar was the best-ranked speaker at our conference and did an amazing session. Her story, the engaging delivery and the quality of the Q&A set a very positive tone for our event and I’m sure will help drive our culture forward.”
Andrew Buckingham, Vice President of The Coca-Cola Company Middle East
“Sahar was scored highly by attendees – they loved her ability to communicate from the stage and convey her message.”
Oslo Business Forum 2024
“We have seen a lot of Speakers over the years, and we really thought Sahar was excellent. A great storyteller, clear messaging and sign posting, she really worked hard to bring in the Bupa context and conscious of the examples she shared with a global audience.
It was a really thought provoking and memorable session. We are so pleased with how it’s landed with the cohort, and the connections back to the wider programme.”
BUPA
“Sahar has been great at landing some important messages within our organisation, balancing her experience and the reality/nature of our company.
Our CEO had a debrief right after her presentation; the feedback was really good, and I could hear some people across the week referring back to Sahar’s speech and key messages, which is always a positive sign.”
Sanofi
“Sahar was brilliant yesterday – her speech was the ideal balance between anecdotal and corporate takeaways. She followed very precisely the themes we’d discussed in our briefing call and was very in keeping with the feel of the day. The book signing afterwards was also a real hit.”
Cazenove – Entrepreneur’s Summit
“Sincere thanks to Sahar for the excellent presentation at our Leadership Insights event. The messaging was excellent and the delivery superb. She tuned in really well to our theme and feedback has been first class.”
Andy Gass, Chief Digital Officer, TD SYNNEX
“Sahar’s session went really well, participants evaluated it very highly and it was great to finish the program on such a high note. Huge thank you to Sahar again!”
Leadership Development, Capgemini University
“Thank you so much for the fascinating talk yesterday – we have had great feedback and many already talking about making more space in their calendar for “Business”.”
Managing Director, UBS
“It was a fantastic session, a real highlight of the day. We had drinks last night and everyone was talking positively about Sahar’s session.”
COO at BMS Group
“We had fantastic feedback from Sahar’s talk. The presentation landed well and felt very aligned with the messaging of the day. We really appreciated Sahar attending the day from the start, which allowed her to adapt some of her talk to flow so seamlessly with the other presenters that spoke throughout the day. She understood the feel of the day as well as what drives our people and therefore the talk was received with warmly and was incredibly insightful.”
Newton
“Sahar was absolutely sensational. The perfect balance between personal and inspirational. So many learnings. Thank you.”
Dan Ram, Moderator, TED speaker, Speaker Coach
“Sahar, you are the talk of the town! You were by far the best speaker of the day and people cherish you highly. Thank you so much for your contribution.”
Marcel Scacchi, Founder, Medtech
“Thank you for your amazing contribution to our event yesterday. I found your story really inspiring and the way you also gave us some hints and tips to help us cope with some of the entrepreneurial stereotypes was really interesting and useful. I heard many of these quoted back by our guests after the event, as they also gave feedback on how much they enjoyed your session.”
Tim O’Brien, Director, Willmott Dixon
“Sahar was brilliant! Her story resonated well with business leaders, and it was really appreciated how she incorporated Aon language into her presentation.”
Aon
“On behalf of Abbott, I’d like to sincerely thank you for the excellent workshop. It was an honour and a pleasure to meet and work with your last week. You’re not only one of the most professional speakers I have worked with but also a wonderful person. The feedback about the workshop is exceptional and participants enjoyed your talk.
We’re so much looking forward to continuing our collaboration in the near future!.”
Director, Global Marketing, Abbot
“It was tremendous to hear about your experiences with Coffee Republic. You really brought to life the challenges of scaling from a people / culture perspective, something that is undoubtedly a real challenge for a number of our CEOs at the moment – so thank you.”
Blenheim Chalcot
“Ratings from attendees concluded that 95% felt that Sahar provided insights on how to shift to an entrepreneurial mindset, 94% felt that she was engaging. Overall satisfaction with her session was 95%.”
The Bank of America
“I just wanted to say thank you for the session Sahar did; it was amazing and so inspirational.
I literally have so many ideas about new and different way on how we can really help clients and their patients, and so to hear Sahar’s insights as to her mindset was really helpful to me.”
Browne Jacobson
“What a fabulous talk – the team were on fire afterwards and we all enjoyed having you.”
Richard Saynor, CEO Sandoz
“Sahar was excellent and definitely stole the show, which was what we wanted to achieve.
Her story was so raw, inspiring, relatable, back to basics and resonated a lot with our audience. Thanks again for your help sourcing copies of your book – they went in seconds…”
Deloitte



