A MUM-OF-FOUR and business owner has secured a place in the final of a national award.

Claire Carter is the founder of Chances Gives Choices which is dedicated to bringing families back together after separation.

She has been shortlisted in the Inspire category of the The Mpower National Business Awards, which celebrate parents throughout the UK who juggle their business and family life.

Chances Give Choices provide contact support services for families affected by divorce and separation across Wiltshire and Hampshire.

The services are run in Alderbury, Romsey and Ringwood.

As well as being shortlisted for this category, Claire is also in with a chance of winning the title of Mpower Woman Of The Year 2018, which will be awarded to the mum who is an inspiration to all women in business.

Claire said “I was so overwhelmed at even being nominated. I am so truly honoured and grateful that my life experiences and dedication through Chances Gives Choices has been recognised and deemed worthy of being honoured to be shortlisted for this award and it truly means so much to me. My sole aim when launching Chances Gives Choices was to honour thy parents, followed by showing my children that hard-work and commitment was the ethic shown to me by my father and the same ethic I am showing to them.

"I truly am so grateful and totally honoured to be a finalist of the Mpower National Business Awards.”

Judging Claire’s entry will be a panel of top parent entrepreneurs and the winners will be announced on June 23 at The Mpower Gala being held at the Holiday Inn Bloomsbury in London.

Nicola Huelin, multi-award winning business coach and founder of the Mpower awards said: “There are a lot of awards out there, and we are proud about what makes these awards, and the women who enter, different.

“Often invisible to most, mums in business are changing the business landscape, while raising and inspiring the generations of the future. We believe their efforts and successes in overcoming the unique challenges of combining business and motherhood, particularly in those first few years when it’s the hardest, need to be recognised and celebrated.”