LAST year a young entrepreneur wrote to The Prince of Wales inviting him to visit her award-winning business in Basingstoke to mark its fifth year of operation.

He was unable to accept the invitation from Liz Jackson, 31, who set up her thriving business-to-business telemarketing company in the bedroom of a rented flat in Basingstoke with a £4,000 loan and £1,000 grant from The Prince's Trust.

But now she has the royal seal of approval after meeting Prince Charles at an event staged in London to mark the launch of the 21st anniversary celebrations of the trust's business programme.

She also met the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, at the launch at the Royal Bank of Scotland's London headquarters. The bank has pledged another £5million to the trust, spread over the next five years.

Mrs Jackson, who is blind and who was the T-Mobile Business Woman of the Year 2003, was thrilled to be able to thank the prince for the help his funding gave to making Great Guns Marketing a leading UK player in its sector of industry.

It was the first time she had come face-to-face with Prince Charles, and she said: "It was great. He asked me about my business and what we did and asked if Indian call centres were a problem. I said no.

"He is obviously very passionate about the trust and it was brilliant to be able to say thank you to him for getting me started."

Mrs Jackson's Beresford Centre-based business is one of 21 enterprises being showcased to represent more than 60,000 started by the trust since the business programme was founded.

Great Guns Marketing is part of a national exhibition photographic exhibition, Enterprise Works, at the Bargehouse in London's Oxo Tower Wharf. It is open every day from 11am to 6pm until November 28, and is due to start a UK tour in the new year.

The Great Guns photograph featured in the exhibition is of Mrs Jackson sitting cross-legged on top of a filing cabinet.

From small beginnings, Mrs Jackson has created one of the biggest telemarketing companies in the UK, which now has several franchise operations around the country.

It was thanks to The Prince's Trust that Great Guns Marketing got off the ground because when Mrs Jackson decided she wanted to be her own boss, she had been refused a loan from her bank .

Within three months of starting up, her degenerate eye disease had deteriorated and she became blind - but that did not deter her from her goal of being a successful businesswoman.

She said: "I treated going blind as a practical issue. I needed someone to read for me, drive me to appointments and do paperwork.

"I could manage without eyesight, as my career is telemarketing and sales and my main tools are my ears and mouth."

Great Guns Marketing flourished and now has 32 staff at its Basingstoke headquarters, plus a turnover of £1.5million.

With seven regional branches, Great Guns delivers business services across the UK and employs more than 100 people.

Mrs Jackson said: "We're now the number one telemarketing business in the UK - one day we want to be the best in the world."

She is also becoming a high-profile speaker on the national circuit, with bookings to deliver inspirational talks to encourage enterprise.

Only this week she was due to deliver the keynote address "Aim High, Achieve High" at University College Winchester.