Matthew Ford, operations manager for Creative Nature, explains why Julianne Ponan should win the Leader of the Year category of the Guardian Small Business Showcase competition:
Julianne took over Creative Nature when it had sustained heavy losses at the age of 22. She took the business into profit within just 18 months with only one member of staff. Since then, she has launched the brand into Ocado, Tesco, overseas to the UAE and Ireland, and is set to launch into Asda thus year.
Julianne designed the product range around her own allergies and food intolerances, filling gaps in the market when she couldn’t find a healthy product that she could eat and still keep breathing.
In 2015 she increased sales on Ocado by 1721%, where Creative Nature were the fastest growing and best selling superfood brand. We were still only a two person team.
She has now increased the size of the team by taking on two young apprentices who she can mentor closely and help grow with the company. This is something of a passion of Julianne’s – she is a mentor for Virgin Startups and has been a keynote speaker at The Business Show for three consecutive shows.
With a listing in Asda agreed for 2016 and the new products gaining interest from the other supermarkets, this is just the beginning for Julianne and Creative Nature.
All entries which meet the competition criteria are published and our judging panel select a shortlist of the top three for each category. Winners are announced at an awards ceremony in summer 2016.
