I’m Sahar Hashemi, an entrepreneur at heart and someone who’s spent her whole life believing that ideas grow when you just begin. I co-founded Coffee Republic from a tiny spark of an idea and watched it become one of the UK’s most recognised high-street brands. Later I wrote "Anyone Can Do It”, because I learned the hard way that you don’t need to be special, fearless, or “ready” - you just need to start.

My motto has always been to leap and the net will appear. It’s the thread that runs through everything I do, from writing and speaking to building Buy Women Built a movement to make women-built brands visible, celebrated, and impossible to ignore.

I’m here because I believe female entrepreneurs are testament to the strength and power of women.