79_82 RBA HUB awards
6/6/08
16:48
>
Page 4
GERALD RATNER THE man who gave probably the most famous business speech in living memory will tell his personal story of success, failure and bouncing back. Gerald Ratner joined his family business in 1966 and turned it into one of the world’s most successful jewellery businesses. He transformed Ratner’s from a company with 130 stores and sales of £13m to a public company with 2,500 stores and sales of over £1.2bn by 1990, with profits of more than £121m. That was until he gave a speech to the
SAHAR HASHEMI HAVING no knowledge of retail or coffee didn’t deter London lawyer Sahar Hashemi from teaming up with brother Bobby to open a coffee shop. That was in 1995. Just 13 years later, Coffee Republic is an established high street name with a turnover of £30m. But the journey wasn’t that straightforward, from the first conversation when the seed of the idea was planted, to getting a DTI Small Firms Loan Guarantee, finding a name and opening the first store, to building a nationwide coffee chain. It is a story about building a business and also a personal tale about two people who stopped thinking about it and did it. Ms Hashemi stepped back from the day-today management of Coffee Republic in 2001 and she has now started a second entreprenuerial venture with Skinny Candy, selling sugar-free confectionery. Sahar Hashemi is joining the Live Debate with CityTalk in the Debate Zone at 1pm on Tuesday before speaking at 2.30pm in the Presentation Theatre. 80 M A G A Z I N E
O F
T H E
L I V E R P O O L
D A I L Y
P O S T
Institute of Directors in 1991 when he branded his own products as “total crap”, and was swept up in a fierce media storm. Forced out of his own company, which ditched the family name for Signet, Ratner’s comments came at a huge personal cost, emotionally as well as financially. He reappeared in 2004 with the launch of geraldonline.com which has become a successful online jewellers. Gerald Ratner is speaking at 11.30am on Tuesday in the Presentation Theatre and then joining the Live Debate with CityTalk in the Debate Zone at 1pm.