OXON: The Business Accelerators competition run by the Oxford Mail and its sister titles has been hailed a major success after it attracted dozens of entries.

Thirty-eight small firms under three years old applied for the chance to be one of three companies chosen to win three months’ free advertising in the newspapers along with business mentoring from top county business experts.

Now the mentors – Mike Jennings, chairman of Jennings Business Parks, Bob Urwin, owner of the Martin & Co lettings franchise in Oxford and Brendon Cross, founder of Witney-based STL Communications – are busy sifting through the applications in a bid to pick the best.