Matthew Ford

Matthew, you were at Claremont Fan Court from 1990 – 2003. What are your stand-out memories of your time here?

As I spent my entire school life at Claremont I’ve got so many incredible memories, however there are a few that really stand out.

Our Year 6 play of Bugsy Malone is still talked about today and was arguably the best one ever put on! I was fortunate enough to play Fat Sam, one of the lead roles, and can still quote my lines and sing the songs. One thing that sticks in my mind was during the interval when Farid was sweeping the stage in character and accidentally fell off! I couldn’t run and make sure he was OK because I was meant to be his boss.

One of my greatest sporting memories was winning the 4x100m relay at the counties and setting a new county record! I checked a few years later and the record was still there, so we might still hold it. The dream team was Tarique K, Alex T, me and Charlie M.

I finished my Claremont experience by doing the speech at Summer Meeting. Speaking to the whole school, parents and teachers from the back of the Mansion was a fitting way to say goodbye.

Whilst you were a pupil here, did you know what you wanted to do as a future career?

I changed my mind quite often, never really seriously knowing what I wanted, and at no point was I expecting to run a small business with my wife! I think my list of potential jobs was; fireman (because of Fireman Sam), footballer, runner, lawyer, teacher and some others depending on what mood I was in!

Can you tell our readers about your business, Creative Nature?

My wife suffers from severe food allergies, so we started a business that caters to all the 14 major food allergens, making life safer and happier for people like her. We’ve gone from 2 to a team of 7 and are now stocked in major supermarkets like Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Ocado, and export to over 18 countries around the world. The really exciting next steps for us is launching onto airlines, where food allergies are really scary, as you can’t just stop a flight and get out if you are having a reaction!

What have been your career highlights to date?

Our first launch into Tesco was insane. We had to over-label 10,000 products because they wanted the new packaging, as a team of 2, with limited time. We did it though and that year we doubled our turnover, so it was a huge moment for the company. Other highlights include some of the awards, like Small Business of the Year at the FSB awards, and my wife being named in Forbes 30 Under 30 and getting an MBE last year! We’ve just sent a huge first order to a major airline too, over 350,000 units of our new crisps!

What’s next? Are there any career milestones you would love to hit?

We really want to launch into Waitrose, as we first met in the Esher Waitrose when she was on checkouts and I was a trolley boy! One of our big objectives is to be known around the world for our allergy safe products, so if anyone is diagnosed with a food allergy, they already know Creative Nature will be safe for them.

Are there any personalities in the business world who have inspired you?

I was fortunate enough to meet Richard Reed (Innocent Drinks) and hear his keynote talk at an awards evening and he is truly inspiring. The person I’m most inspired by though is my wife, Julianne Ponan MBE!! To take on the snacking world as a young female of ethnic minority background, and win, is just incredible.

In such an ever-changing world, what advice would you give soon-to-be Claremont Fan Court alumni who are considering starting a business of their own?

Make sure you know what you are trying to achieve, whether you want to make loads of money, change the world or just be independent. Our goal is to change the world, making Creative Nature a mission-led business, and every decision we make has that in mind. Some people just want to make money, so their decisions are all around money. If you don’t know what your goal is, you might try and take many different paths and not get to where you want to go.

What advice would you give your sixteen year old self?

Focus a bit more!! Whilst playing football with friends is great fun, and definitely made life exciting, it did absolutely nothing to help me be a better person or prepare me for the real world. So again, make decisions that are going to better you and push you, rather than being fun at the time but not helping you at all.