Zahra Afshar confirmed as the first keynote speaker

Zahra Afshar, head of legal, human rights and sustainability of Ahmad Tea, will be joining the Women in Tea & Coffee conference next year as a tea keynote speaker.

Zahra is a lawyer turned sustainability leader who has dedicated her career to advancing justice — first in the courtroom, and now across global supply chains. Trained in criminal defence and human rights law, she specialised in prison law and miscarriages of justice before moving in-house to Ahmad Tea, a family-owned business exporting to over 90 countries.

Zahra now applies her analytical rigour and principled outlook to one of the world’s most complex and historic supply chains. The tea industry is still largely hand-plucked — especially by women who, since the colonial beginnings of the industry, have been marginalised. Zahra is passionate about restoring duties and progressing rights to these communities, ensuring that those who grow and harvest tea are treated with fairness and dignity.

She leads initiatives that tackle systemic inequality head-on, from closing the living wage gap for tea workers to delivering programmes which improve health, sanitation and education. Under her leadership, Ahmad Tea was honoured with the King’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development in 2024, recognising its commitment to embedding people and planet at the heart of commercial growth.

Zahra has also designed and is piloting a pioneering profit-share initiative to bring visibility and value directly into the hands of those who handpick the tea — ensuring that the people who work the hardest in the value chain are recognised and rewarded.

Educated at Bristol University and the London School of Economics, and called to the Bar, Zahra brings a rare combination of legal expertise, sustainability leadership, and a deep commitment to justice. Her vision is to redefine ethical leadership in global business — proving that supply chains can be not just sustainable, but truly equitable.