Prince Charles has given high praise to a Croydon businesswoman when she collected her MBE on Thursday, after he discovered her successful business began with the help of a Princes’ Trust loan.

Claudine Reid of PJ’s Community Service started the business with the help of her husbands’ redundancy money and an interest-free loan from the Princes’ Trust, after being refused loans from commercial banks. PJ’s Community Service provides home shopping and care to the borough’s vulnerable adults, older people and the housebound, and now employs 80 people in the area.

Claudine said the prince was pleased that funds from his charity had helped fund her social enterprise business. She will now be finalizing business plans for 2009 and said: “We are hoping to help contribute to the sustainability of Croydon’s economy in the coming year.”