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Chapter 23
Sahar Hashemi OBE
Some of the most interesting Brilliant Minds that I have met are the ones that have demonstrated the ability to trust their instincts and build something from the ground upwards, that hadn’t been done before.
Saha was a former lawyer that soon realised that this profession was not for her and tells this amazing story of how she went on to build the Coffee Republic. This often-meant learning and discovery through constant iteration and she took on significant risk but had this overwhelming desire to create a brand. She spent some time working in New York and was complaining when she returned that the UK doesn’t have coffee bars like the New World Coffee shop she used to visit.
In 1995 the product you got in cafés at the time was instant coffee in a polystyrene foam cup whilst in America they had specialty coffees. No one in London was selling the skinny lattes which she’d enjoyed in New York. Her brother forced her to do one week’s market research for him. If he hadn’t have done this, she would have never had gone on to start the Coffee Republic because she would have waited for someone else to bring coffee bars to the UK. This is an amazing story of perseverance and tenacity.
By Harvey Thorneycroft
Chapter 23: Sahar Hashemi OBE
Some of the most interesting Brilliant Minds that I have met are the ones that have demonstrated the ability to trust their instincts and build something from the ground upwards. In the leadership study that we did, the qualities of context leadership demonstrated the ability to build create and innovate something that hadn’t been done before.
This often meant learning and discovery through iteration, these individuals had resilience and took on significant risk but had this overwhelming desire to create and transform businesses, which went on to be significant brands.
Sahar is an exhibition scholar from the City of London School for Girls, a graduate of the University of Bristol and a former lawyer with Frere Cholmeley Bischoff’s. However, she soon realised that this profession was not for her and tells this amazing story of how she went on to build the Coffee Republic.
She is probably one of the most empathetic individuals that I have ever come across which is not the quality that you associate with lawyers. I don’t say that in a disparaging way as I have many friends that are part of this profession. She recognised that the profession was not for her and confronted her brother Bobby about setting up the UK’s first US-style coffee bar chain.
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