Take the Leap with Sahar Hashemi

During this lively conversation Sahar shares her experiences, highs and lows and fabulous insights including;

• The journey from a dream of being a successful lawyer….to launching and growing a ground-breaking brand.
• The importance of just "doing it yourself" for new entrepreneurs launching a start-up
• “Anyone Can Do It” Challenging accepted views of the DNA make-up of entrepreneurs.
• Impact of the pandemic on the mindset and enthusiasm of those wanting to start a business.
• Critical need to remember why a business was formed and it’s ongoing relationship with its customers.
• How listeners best engage with "Buy Women Built" this initiative and support the work you’re doing to improve the uptake in entrepreneurship amongst women?
• The best piece of advice you could give to someone starting out and creating a business for the first time, or for those already on their way but having doubts.

Website: https://saharhashemi.com Twitter: @SaharHashemiOBE

Bio

Our guest Sahar Hashemi believes if you’re human, you’re an entrepreneur.

Described as a “powerful catalyst to drive entrepreneurship within big corporations” Sahar is the founder of two disruptive businesses and has seen up close how the unique spirit and energy that exists in a start-up can dramatically transform behaviour and performance. This first-hand experience has led Sahar to develop a simple roadmap for those who want to capture some of this start up energy for themselves or their business, no matter its size. Her work has attracted international attention and made her a bestselling author.

A former lawyer, Sahar started the UK’s first chain of coffee bars with her brother Bobby, building Coffee Republic to 110 stores and a £50 million market cap in five years. Later she founded market segment-defining sugar-free sweets brand Skinny Candy, selling it to confectionery conglomerate Glisten PLC in 2007.

Entrepreneurship isn’t an innate personality trait but a step-by-step process anyone can follow. Which is why her book is titled, Anyone Can Do It. If someone, like her, who had never shown a shred of leadership or creative potential could do it, then truly anyone can.

Sahar introduces the start-up mindset to big companies facing relentless change and in need of more agility and innovation. Her most recent book Start Up Forever is the culmination of her work speaking to 400 organisations about the actionable, practical steps that can bring out anyone’s inner entrepreneur. It was named The Financial Times Best Business Book of the Month in March 2019.

Sahar knows what blocks entrepreneurial behaviour in large organisations, and what it takes to unleash it. She offers practical, day-to-day advice, not vague theory. And by drawing on her deeply personal story, she connects with audiences through the heart, not just the head, to bring about real, long-lasting change. In 2011 she was nominated by Director magazine as one of its Top 10 Original Thinkers, alongside Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Sir Jonathan Ive. In June 2012 she was awarded an OBE for services to the UK economy and to charity. She has been named “Pioneer to the life of the Nation” by Her Majesty The Queen and Young Global leader by the World Economic Forum.

Sahar recently co-chaired the UK government Scale Up Taskforce shaping government policy towards growing SMEs. She currently sits on the board of the Scale Up Institute. She is patron of Child Bereavement Charity UK and on the advisory board of the ECB HUNDRED.