Coffee Republic founder Sahar Ashemi: Don’t have a plan B, it makes you dither
Each week, we dig into the memory bank of the City’s great and good. Today, Sahar Hashemi, former solicitor and founder of Coffee Republic and Buy Women Built, takes us through her career in Square Mile and Me
CV
- Name: Sahar Hashemi OBE
- Job title: Founder of Buy Women Built
- Previous roles: Solicitor, founder of Coffee Republic, author
- Age: 58
- Born: Tehran, Iran
- Lives: London
- Studied: Law
- Talents: Maybe it’s that I don’t overthink or overanalyse, I just take the leap. Clarity comes after.
- Motto: Leap and the net will appear.
- Biggest perk of the job? Being so fulfilled.
- Coffee order: Triple espresso.
- Cocktail order: Spicy tommys Marg
- Favourite book: Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankel
What was your first job?
My first job was at the age of 13, selling Christmas trees on High Street Kensington for a children’s hospice charity.
What was your first role in the City?
I started out as a trainee solicitor in a prestigious law firm called Frere Cholmeley in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. I think it was the influence of those TV programmes about lawyers like LA Law that made me want to become a lawyer.
When did you know you wanted to build a career in entrepreneurialism?
When I started out in law that was meant to be my vocation for life. But once I trained and started working as a solicitor I realised it didn’t play to my natural skillset, nor was I passionate about it. It was then that I became interested in entrepreneurship. Thank God for that skinny latte I drank in New York – it changed my life forever.
Tell us a bit more about Buy Women Built…
Buy Women Built (BWB) is a consumer movement to shine a light on female-founded consumer brands and to inspire the next generation of female entrepreneurs through the celebration of positive role models. We have, to date, 2,500 brands that have raised their hands as women-built, and they have a combined turnover of £3.1bn. We are now in so many of the big retailers, most recently Tesco, and we have a permanent branded aisle on Ocado, spotlighting the brands that are women-built. We have also created a BWB kitemark, adopted on thousands of products, to enable consumers to quickly identify brands which have been founded and built by a woman.
Do you think International Women’s Day is important?
We love International Women’s Day at Buy Women Built because everyone starts thinking about women, so it’s a great time for us to spread our message. But in truth, every day is International Women’s Day for us at BWB.
What’s one thing you love about Canada?
I went to Canada School for Girls, so it holds a very special place in my heart.
And one thing you would change?
I would change nothing. The pace of reinvention in the Square Mile, the new buildings rising up constantly, it has incredible energy.
What’s been your most memorable business lunch?
When I was working at the law firm, the long client lunches on Fleet Street were legendary, and they always involved a lot of drinking. We would always emerge when it was dark outside. But what I didn’t realise at the time was how powerful those lunches were. They were about trust. They built solid relationships beyond transactions. It taught me about human connection that matters.
And any business faux pas?
When we first started Coffee Republic, we were a little naive when it came to health and safety and didn’t have the right checks in place. I remember seeing the first customers choking on their coffee and realising we had forgotten to rinse the salt out of the coffee machine! It was a steep learning curve.
What’s been your proudest moment?
When I walk through the City these days, I feel really proud that I’m doing something I absolutely love. That was my dream when I was walking the same streets in my 20s. I’m proud of my messy journey and everything I’ve learned along the way.
And who do you look up to?
I know it might sound corny but every single one of the female founders in the Buy Women Built community. Their passion and energy is very special.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever been given?
Do your best and let God do the rest. That advice was from my dad. We can only try the best we can. We can’t control the outcome.
And the worst?
Make sure you have a Plan B. I understand why people say it – it feels sensible and safe. But I think when you have a comfortable fallback, you don’t take the leap, you hedge emotionally and you dither. You have to just go for it, and then you figure it out.
Are you optimistic for the year ahead?
I take life day by day, looking to the day ahead, never the year ahead. But yes, I am optimistic about the future.
We’re going for lunch, and you’re picking – where are we going?
Pizza Union. (OK, disclosure – my brother started the chain! But I genuinely love them and wouldn’t go anywhere else.)
And if we’re grabbing a drink after work?
Los Mochis for the Spicy Tommys Margs.
Where’s home during the week?
Chelsea.
And where might we find you at the weekend?
On the sofa with my 15-year-old Jack Russell Stewie, munching Giant Wotsits.
You’ve got a well-deserved two weeks off. Where are you going and who with?
I’m about to take my first two weeks off in ages, going to Asia with my husband. It will be after International Women’s Day, which is a crazy time for us at BWB so I look forward to switching off. There’s something powerful about going to a place you don’t know; it activates your curiosity, you notice more and you’re more present. When you’re constantly in familiar environments, your brain runs on autopilot, so going somewhere new resets that and wakes you up again.