{"id":299704,"date":"2026-01-23T15:58:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T15:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/299704\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T15:58:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T15:58:06","slug":"newports-hafsah-sana-among-uks-top-100-female-founders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/299704\/","title":{"rendered":"Newport&#8217;s Hafsah Sana among UK&#8217;s top 100 female founders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Hafsah Sana, from Newport and founder of Sama Play Caf\u00e9, has been recognised by Small Business Britain\u2019s f:Entrepreneur #IAlso100 campaign as one of the &#8220;most inspiring&#8221; female entrepreneurs for 2026.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  She launched Sama Play Caf\u00e9 in June 2024 after leaving her career in the NHS.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The campaign highlights women who are making a significant impact through innovation, business growth, and positive contributions to their communities.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\"\/>Hafsah Sana, founder of Sama Play Caf\u00e9 in Newport has been named among the UK&#8217;s most inspiring female entrepreneurs (Image: Supplied)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Ms Sana said: &#8220;I often joke that I left a 9-5 to work 24\/7, and it feels incredible to know that my constant commitment to make my one-woman business successful has been not just recognised but also celebrated.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Sama Play Caf\u00e9 is described as a welcoming space for babies and toddlers, while serving as a supportive community hub for parents and carers.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Ms Sana also uses her professional experience to run parenting workshops alongside play sessions.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Launched in 2017, the f:Entrepreneur campaign aims to spotlight the achievements of female business owners and provide role models for the wider small business community.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Michelle Ovens CBE, CEO and founder of Small Business Britain, said: &#8220;It is brilliant to feature Hafsah from Sama Play Caf\u00e9 in this year\u2019s #IAlso100 campaign.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;All of the female entrepreneurs in this year\u2019s line-up are inspirational and remarkable role models.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The full list of this year\u2019s #IAlso100 can be found at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/f-entrepreneur.com\/ialso-100-2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/f-entrepreneur.com\/ialso-100-2026\/<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Ms Ovens said that recognising and supporting female entrepreneurship is vital for the UK\u2019s economic and social progress.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  She said: &#8220;Their creativity, leadership, and community impact show exactly why supporting female founders is so important, not only for the UK\u2019s economic growth but for the positive difference they make to wider society.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The f:Entrepreneur #IAlso100 campaign also provides training, events, and networking opportunities to help women in business develop skills and confidence.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The economic impact of female entrepreneurship continues to grow, with estimates suggesting that up to \u00a3250 billion could be added to the UK economy if women started and scaled businesses at the same rate as men.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hafsah Sana, from Newport and founder of Sama Play Caf\u00e9, has been recognised by Small Business Britain\u2019s f:Entrepreneur&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[178],"tags":[79,18,236,19,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-299704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entrepreneurship","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115945242895765869","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}