Bobby Hashemi

Babak "Bobby" Hashemi (born November 1963) is a British businessman. He is an investor at Union Ventures, a private investment vehicle that he founded in 2012, focused on investing and supporting growth companies across the UK consumer and leisure sectors. In 1995, he co-founded the now defunct Coffee Republic coffeshop chain with his sister Sahar Hashemi.

Early life

Babak "Bobby" Hashemi was born in November 1963.[1] Hashemi has an MBA from Amos Tuck School of Business Administration, at Dartmouth College, United States and a BSc in Computer Engineering at Syracuse University, US.

Career

Hashemi started his career as an investment banker in mergers and acquisitions at Lehman Brothers Investment Bank in New York City. He had been there for over three years when the sudden death of his father in 1993 led him to take a sabbatical to spend time in London, closer to his family. Bobby was considering returning to Lehman Brothers after his sabbatical when he spotted a business opportunity – a gap in the market for coffee drinks in the UK. Bobby saw this as a seed for a new business venture and the idea of Coffee Republic was born.

Hashemi founded the Coffee Republic chain with his sister Sahar.[2] He then lead Coffee Republic Plc from its inception to position as one of the best-known coffee bar brands in the UK, a London Stock Exchange quoted company with annual sales of £30 million and 100 stores across the UK. As CEO and then executive chairman, he was involved in all aspects of growing and running the business – including strategy, branding, operations, finance and fundraising.[3]

The business was founded in late 1995, floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1997, raised £20 million equity over the following 3 years, and by 2001 when he exited the business, the share price had risen by 5x since its flotation. Then two years later, he re-joined the business from 2003 to 2006 to lead a turnaround of the business and develop the Coffee Republic deli concept.[4]

From 2007 to 2012, Hashemi was a partner and shareholder at Risk Capital Partners, a private equity investment firm with a £75 million fund investing in growth companies across the UK, where he participated in originating, appraising, executing, and monitoring deals across the consumer sector.[5]

Other activities

Anyone can Do It

With his sister, Sahar Hashemi, he co-authored Anyone Can Do It, a business book about the high street coffee chain Coffee Republic.

Speaker

Hashemi has spoken about entrepreneurship, building a business, fundraising, private equity investing and the consumer and leisure sectors, and has presented to a variety of audiences and at a number of national events including Imperial College,[6] Barclays Bank, Visa Card, Institute of Directors, Fast Track, Talk Radio, British Franchise Association, London Business School, Robert Gordon University and En Passant Magazine.[7]

References
  1. "Babak HASHEMI". Companies House. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  2. The Daily Telegraph. London. 24 April 2006 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2937389/Market-profile-Bobby-Hashemi.html. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. "Management Today".
  4. The Franchise Magazine https://archive.today/20130222082548/http://www.thefranchisemagazine.net/franchise/coffee-republic/founders-of-franchising-bobby-hashemi-coffee/972H. Archived from the original on 22 February 2013. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. "The Business Desk".
  6. "Imperial College Events".
  7. "En Passant Magazine". Archived from the original on 23 December 2012.
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