Prince's Trust ambassador describes moment he met King Charles

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Prince Charles, when Prince of Wales, presenting The Watches of Switzerland Group Young Change Maker award to Cordell Jeffers during the Prince's Trust Awards Trophy Ceremony at St James's PalaceImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Cordell Jeffers was presented with the Young Change Maker award at St James's Palace last year

A businessman has recalled the "absolute honour" of being handed an award by King Charles III.

Cordell Jeffers, 30, set up his own sportswear firm Mungo Sports after joining the The Prince's Trust Enterprise programme.

The charity ambassador from Birmingham went on to support more than 5,000 black and ethnic minority students through training and school workshops.

Last year he got the Young Change Maker award from the then Prince of Wales.

The journey to success did not have an easy start for Mr Jeffers as he was sent to the Caribbean to study after being excluded from school.

Image source, Cordell Jeffers
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Mr Jeffers set up We Shine Together to help people without traditional qualifications get into higher education

"School was quite a turbulent time for me - I'm dyslexic so I struggled quite a lot with my education, " he told BBC Radio WM.

For a year-and-a-half, the teenager when to Saint Kitts and Nevis to finish his secondary school education.

The entrepreneur said: "It was a hard decision but it's one of the best decisions my mum ever made because she put me in an environment where I had to adapt to the culture and learn a new set of values.

"Seeing people with a lack of resources but still make use of every resource that they had was very inspiring and allowed me to want to change my life."

At the age of 15, Mr Jeffers returned to the Nechells area of Birmingham and while enrolled in college, a passion for business was born.

As well as a sports company, Mr Jeffers now shares his experience and lessons with others through his new enterprise, We Shine Together.

It helps provide access to higher education and employment and supports rough sleepers across the city.

Image source, Cordell Jeffers
Image caption,

Mr Jeffers says being in Saint Kitts and Nevis as a teenager helped him to learn and value his heritage

Meeting the former Prince of Wales last year was "an absolute honour and one for the history books", he said.

He added: "Through the Prince's Trust, I have gone on to do so many great things, I've interviewed Lionel Richie and received a letter from Richard Branson.

"There are no limitations, the only limitations you have are your own thinking.

"You have potential inside of you, it is just having the belief to activate it."

The Prince's Trust is a UK charity founded in 1976 by the then Prince of Wales to help vulnerable young people who are unemployed and those struggling at school and at risk of exclusion.

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