Within seconds of speaking to Julianne Ponan, you can see that she’s not your average 25 year old. As CEO and Director of Creative Nature, a fast growing superfood company, she’s managed to turn a business that was in serious financial trouble, into one of the fastest specialist health food brands. What does she think of her sky rocket to success over the past three years? ” I can’t really believe it, it’s all just spiralled away, but you just have to keep going”.
Getting started
Julianne comes from an investment banking background and worked in Bejiing, before returning to the UK to become involved with Creative Nature. Her link to the company came about after she carried out due diligence on an investment that her father had made in the company. Unfortunately, Julianne’s research yielded worrying results and it was clear that the company was in an extreme deficit. Seeing the gap in the market for superfoods and healthy snack products, Julianne took a big step, invested, and later bought over the company. She then worked on addressing the core weaknesses, like management structure and losses, and overhauled everything from packaging to stock choice. Her gamble paid off and within 18 months, Creative Nature was back in profit. ” It was a great feeling when that happened, we added new lines and it stabilised the company”, says Julianne.
Facing challenges head on
Julianne has encountered bumps along the way, especially when looking for investment and backers for Creative Nature. ” I was looking for investment and I just couldn’t get it. I was quite shocked at how I was treated when I approached people. I was told no for many reasons. I was female, I was too young, it was too risky. To be honest, there were days that I wanted to give up. In the end , I just had to put my own money in to get to where I wanted to be. The plus of this is that I didn’t have to give up any of the equity or my creative stake as the business grew”. Brave stand.
Fostering support
Julianne thinks support for young entrepreneurs is so important to foster business in the UK. “I’m now a Start-up Mentor for Virgin, an amazing programme that Richard Branson has set up for entrepreneurs. My role is to help entrepreneurs aged 18-30 with strategic development in their business. They’re given a grant of £25,000 and I help them in the crucial first year when they are establishing their company. Consultants are so expensive and it’s great because I’m there to offer a free service. It means a saving of £500 to £1,000 that entrepreneurs might otherwise have to pay on consultancy fees. “The other thing is that I’ve been there and I’ve made the mistakes. I can warn them of the pitfalls and give key business advice” she says.
Pearls of wisdom
When you start a business you will learn so much about yourself and others, says Julianne. “I would advise young entrepreneurs to surround themselves with people who believe in them because not everyone will. Be 100% sure of your own business. Some days will be so hard and you will want to stop but don’t, keep that determination to carry on everyday. I think the quote, ‘you can’t take the escalator, you have to take the stairs’ really sums up the idea that not everything comes easily or fast in business”.
Awards
Julianne has won numerous awards for her involvement in Creative Nature, including Winner of the FSB Worldpay Young Entrepreneur of the year 2014 for South England and Youngest winner of the Everywoman Artemis Award at National NatWest Everywoman Awards. ” I’ve had the chance to meet people like James Caan, Richard Reed and Cath Kidston who own huge multi-million pound businesses. The lovely surprise is that they have been really friendly and understanding”.
Putting the health into snacks
Spotting gaps in the market is a key skill that Julianne has in abundance and she noticed a lack of tasty but healthy snack bars for people on-the-go. It took 12 months to formulate Creative Nature cold pressed bars but they are now flying of the shelves in Holland & Barratt and it was the the first UK superfood brand to be listed in both Tesco and Ocado. They’re also distributed in Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland and the UAE. One of Julianne’s proudest moments to date was seeing the bars in-store in Tesco. “I went into the store and took a picture and bought one. It was amazing to see the end product on the shelf”. Another moment was when Creative Nature won 2 Gold Stars at the Great Taste Awards for a recognition of the taste of the bars. “We won out off 10,000 entrants and for a health bar to win in those categories was so fulfilling. The awards have helped our product so much and grown awareness of our brand”.
Julianne is allergic to nuts and certain additives so she has formulated Creative Nature bars with certain criteria in mind. The bars are suitable for vegans, are gluten free and contain super food ingredients. “There are no refined sugars or syrup, they are cold pressed and cooked with rapeseed oil. Superfoods contain strong nutritional values and our bars contain hemp protein, cacao, Maca powder, goji berries, ginger and some of the bars in the range contain 20% protein and are used as recovery bars by athletes.
Off the clock
When Julianne gets a spare few minutes, she likes to do yoga or dance to relax and keep focus. ” I haven’t had a holiday in nearly two years and I love travelling so I’d love to plan a break”. She practices what she preaches and follows a healthy lifestyle and a balanced diet. She has cheat days but tries to eat fish once a week and fruit and veggies. “Superfoods are so good for the body too. One handful of gogi berries has 500% the amount of vitamin C than one orange” says Julianne. Good tip to know!
What’s next?
The plan for the future is for Creative Nature products to be available through all the major multiples plus increase exports to the US and Australia. “You’re always looking forward but it’s important to look back and what you’ve done”, says Julianne. I most definitely agree and if the last few years are anything to go by, we think that the rest of 2015 is going to be a resounding success for Julianne and her team!
Visit www.creativenaturesuperfoods.com
Upcoming events
Julianne will be keynote speaker at the Business Show at the ExCel. Tickets are free and can be ordered through the website link here: http://www.bstartup.com/seminars/julianne-ponan/
33rd Business StartUp the on the 13 and 14 May at the ExCel London
Visit http://www.bstartup.com/