A YOUNG entrepreneur has been given a kick-start to her fledgling business after winning a special competition.

Zoe Smith will receive free support and advice from six experienced professionals at networking group The Oxfordshire Project as she looks to develop a career as a top fashion designer.

Ms Smith, 21, said: “My dad, Alex, heard about it and I filled in the entry form and didn’t think much more about it.

I am so pleased and really excited to have won as it is such an amazing opportunity to work with people who have real business experience.

” The first meeting with her six mentors was due to take place last night and Ms Smith will be putting the advice into action as she looks to grow her business, @Fashion57, out of its current base in the conservatory of the family home at Caversfield, near Bicester.

Having graduated from Southampton Solent University in May with a degree in fashion design development, Ms Smith has wasted no time in starting her business while also working part-time at the Brooks Brothers clothing store in Bicester Village.

She has started by designing and printing silk scarves and is looking to expand her range as the business develops.

Her Witney-based mentors are graphic designer Dave Watson; photographer Ben Molyneux; accountant Louise Brown and the team at web developers Olamalu.

They will be joined by Combe-based blogging expert Karen Paine and Suzi Carlisle, who runs the branches of Networking Women in Witney and Bicester.

Ms Smith, who studied for a national diploma in fashion before going to university, has outlined her priorities as being designing and setting up a website and obtaining some financial advice.

She added: “So much of it is only a plan and I want to make it become a reality.”

The competition was the brainchild of Mr Molyneux, who set up The Oxfordshire Project group in Witney last year with the aim of helping local businesses trade with each other and has seen it grow rapidly with groups now established in Cumnor and Bicester.

He said: “I am delighted to have found someone who is really excited to work with us.

Zoe came to one of our meetings and has a lot of ideas to take her business to the next phase.

“I started my first business at 21 and it was difficult, so it is fantastic she has such knowledge behind her.”