College set to honour coffee entrepreneur

ONE of the 100 most influential women in Britain is to receive an honorary fellowship from Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) this week.

Co-founder of Coffee Republic Sahar Hashemi is to receive the honour on October 11 at the college.

She is regarded as one of Britain’s most successful young entrepreneurs and is being commended by the college for her entrepreneurial spirit.

Ms Hashemi left her job as a lawyer to establish Coffee Republic with her brother Bobby in 1995 and the company now has 44 coffee and deli bars, 14 of which are franchises.

Since then, Coffee Republic has grown to one of the best-known and largest independent espresso bar brands in Britain with Vogue magazine hailing them as “awesome”.

Speaking ahead of the conferring of an honorary fellowship on Ms Hashemi, which comes as the institute builds external alliances and challenges for university designation, director of WIT Prof Kieran R Byrne said it’s a huge honour for the college.

“Sahar and her brother Bobby epitomise the entrepreneurial spirit and gave up lucrative and secure employment ... to pursue their vision of a ‘coffee revolution’ in Britain.

“This was especially courageous allowing that neither had any previous knowledge or experience of retailing or indeed coffee.”

WIT is conscious of the importance of entrepreneurial studies to Ireland’s prosperity and to reducing reliance on foreign investment, he added.

Ms Hashemi will also speak to undergraduate and postgraduate students from the school of business during her visit.