Entrepreneurial Mindset Speaker
Sahar Hashemi OBE is one of the most prominent voices on entrepreneurial culture and innovation inside large organisations. A lawyer-turned-founder with a rare grasp of both corporate structure and start-up momentum, she has become a trusted guide for leaders who want to strengthen agility across their teams. Her message resonates because it is grounded in real, lived experience. She has seen the inner workings of both worlds: the precision of a legal career and the creative chaos of scaling a start-up into a national brand. This blend of perspectives gives her a deep understanding of what unleashes entrepreneurial thinking and what shuts it down.
Her story began in a leading London law firm, where after five years she felt compelled to pursue an idea she believed in. Together with her brother Bobby, she launched Coffee Republic, the UK’s first US-style coffee bar chain. What started as a simple concept grew into one of the country’s most recognised high street brands, with 110 locations and £30 million in turnover within five years. The experience taught her how entrepreneurial cultures form, evolve and eventually shift as companies grow, giving her firsthand insight into how innovation is sparked and how it can stall.
Building Disruptive Brands
Sahar stepped away from the everyday operations of Coffee Republic to write Anyone Can Do It, a bestselling book that reframed entrepreneurship as a set of behaviours rather than an innate personality type. Translated into six languages, it became the second-highest selling entrepreneurship book after Richard Branson. Its popularity reflected her clear and practical way of explaining how ideas become real businesses.
She continued to innovate with the launch of Skinny Candy, a sugar-free confectionery brand that created a new segment in its category. The brand caught the attention of confectionery group Glisten PLC, which acquired it in 2007. These ventures shaped her reputation as someone who not only encourages entrepreneurial thinking but has built it from the ground up, twice.
Start-Up Culture Inside Big Companies
Over the last decade, Sahar has spoken to more than 400 major organisations, helping them remove the cultural barriers that restrict agility and creativity. Her book Start-Up Forever, named The Financial Times Business Book of the Month, presents a practical toolkit for building start-up energy inside even the largest companies.
To support teams in making these behaviours tangible, she highlights simple habits that encourage ownership and ingenuity, including:
- Acting on curiosity instead of waiting for permission.
- Seeing customers as a direct source of insight rather than abstraction.
- Breaking large ideas into small, fast, testable steps.
- Treating mistakes as learning signals rather than setbacks.
These principles show teams how to work with more confidence and momentum, even in highly structured environments. Her guidance cuts through overcomplication and brings innovation back to everyday behaviours rather than grand strategies.
Awards, Recognition & Influence
Sahar’s contributions to entrepreneurship, innovation and economic growth have earned widespread recognition. Director magazine named her among its Top 10 Original Thinkers, placing her alongside figures such as Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Sir Jonathan Ive. She was honoured as a “Pioneer to the life of the Nation” by Her Majesty The Queen and selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. She was also included in the Maserati 100, a list highlighting some of Britain’s most influential mentors, investors and advisors. In June 2012, she received an OBE for services to the UK economy and to charity.
These achievements reflect her long-standing belief that entrepreneurial behaviour brings fresh energy and resilience to organisations navigating change.
Current Projects & Ongoing Impact
Sahar remains at the forefront of conversations about innovation and economic growth. In 2022, she launched Buy Women Built, an initiative designed to increase recognition and consumer support for female-founded businesses. The project aims to drive economic recovery by giving women-led companies greater visibility and a stronger voice in the marketplace.
She also contributes her knowledge through strategic roles on the board of the Scale Up Institute and on the advisory boards of Digital Boost, Change Please Coffee and The Hundred Cricket. Across all her work, she continues to champion the idea that entrepreneurial habits are accessible to everyone and that organisations thrive when these habits become part of everyday culture.
