Sahar Hashemi

Upon graduation, Hashemi trained and qualified as a solicitor with Frere Cholmeley Bischoff's (a 200-year-old firm in Lincoln's Inn Fields that folded in 1998).

The chain had opened 108 stores by 2001, when Hashemi left the firm to write Anyone Can Do It: Building Coffee Republic from Our Kitchen Table.

[10] Published in 2003 by John Wiley & Sons,[11] Anyone Can Do It (ISBN 978-1841127651) was written jointly by Sahar and Bobby Hashemi and describes the journey of turning Coffee Republic from an idea into a high street brand.

[citation needed] It reached number 1 on the Amazon business chart and gathered endorsements from the DTI, The Princes Trust and Institute of Directors.

[15] She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to the UK economy and to charity.