A YOUNG entrepreneur just missed out in her bid to clinch a regional award.

Julianne Ponan, owner of Creative Nature Ltd, represented the Slough region as a finalist at the 2015 Haines Watts Young Entrepreneur of the Year competition on Thursday last week.

Creative Nature is a superfood company providing powders, wholefoods and snacks, ethically sourced from all around the world.

Kapil Davda, chairman of the judging panel, said: “The standard was very high again this year and this made the judges job extremely difficult. All the finalists presented confidently and had successful businesses, some with turnovers in the millions already.”

The finals, held in Reading, were attended by finalists selected by judges from each of the Haines Watts’ offices around the Thames Valley and they covered very different disciplines.

Overall winners of this year’s competition were joint applicants Nick Coleman and Udhi Silva, founders of Aylesbury-based company Medical Supermarket.

The finalists all received a year of free mentoring with Haines Watts Partners as part of their prize, along with cheques for £250.