She fled Iran and beat brain cancer. Now Shirin Behzadi is building a $670 million home-furnishings business
ot a lot of people look like me in the franchising world,” says Shirin Behzadi, the CEO of Home Franchise Concepts. “I had to figure things out on my own.”for the past three years, growing system-wide sales—revenue generated across every franchisee—to $670 million, a 43% increase. After becoming chief financial officer in 1999, she took over the firm when its five founders sold the business to Trilantic Capital Partners three years ago.
"I try to not focus on, 'I'm a female, I'm a foreigner.' I focus on what I'm good at," says Shirin Behzadi. Her journey to the top wasn’t easy. At 17, she fled Iran following the 1979 revolution and emigrated to America; soon her mother and siblings followed, finding their upper-middle-class lifestyle back home much diminished. She took a job as a gas station cashier when she was a teenager and went on to establish a comfortable life, working at EY as an accountant and then as a mortgage bank's CFO.
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She Fled Iran And Beat Brain Cancer. Now Shirin Behzadi Is Building A $670M Home-Furnishings Business.At 17, Shirin Behzadi left her homeland. Her first job was as a gas station cashier. Today she's CEO of Home Franchise Concepts: 'Not a lot of people look like me in the franchising world. I had to figure out things on my own.'
Read more »
She Fled Iran And Beat Brain Cancer. Now Shirin Behzadi Is Building A $670M Home-Furnishings Business.At 17, Shirin Behzadi left her homeland. Her first job was as a gas station cashier. Today she's CEO of Home Franchise Concepts: 'Not a lot of people look like me in the franchising world. I had to figure out things on my own.'
Read more »
She Fled Iran And Beat Brain Cancer. Now Shirin Behzadi Is Building A $670M Home-Furnishings Business.At 17, Shirin Behzadi left her homeland. Her first job was as a gas station cashier. Today she's CEO of Home Franchise Concepts: 'Not a lot of people look like me in the franchising world. I had to figure out things on my own.'
Read more »
She Fled Iran And Beat Brain Cancer. Now Shirin Behzadi Is Building A $670M Home-Furnishings Business.At 17, Shirin Behzadi left her homeland. Her first job was as a gas station cashier. Today she's CEO of Home Franchise Concepts: 'Not a lot of people look like me in the franchising world. I had to figure out things on my own.'
Read more »
She Fled Iran And Beat Brain Cancer. Now Shirin Behzadi Is Building A $670M Home-Furnishings Business.At 17, Shirin Behzadi left her homeland. Her first job was as a gas station cashier. Today she's CEO of Home Franchise Concepts: 'Not a lot of people look like me in the franchising world. I had to figure out things on my own.'
Read more »
She Fled Iran And Beat Brain Cancer. Now Shirin Behzadi Is Building A $670M Home-Furnishings Business.At 17, Shirin Behzadi left her homeland. Her first job was as a gas station cashier. Today she's CEO of Home Franchise Concepts: 'Not a lot of people look like me in the franchising world. I had to figure out things on my own.'
Read more »
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