GET involved with Local Business Accelerators. That’s the message from Dragons’ Den star Deborah Meaden and Prime Minister David Cameron as the campaign gets underway for a second year.

Both are supporting the initiative, which gives promising young businesses in Dorset the chance to win a big boost.

The Daily Echo is supporting Local Business Accelerators for the second year following its launch in 2011.

The search for a second round of applicants for scheme, which is being run by the Newspaper Society, is on.More than 500 newspapers around the country are taking part and in all it will deliver a £15m shot in the arm to businesses through free advertising and mentoring.

Businesses aged between one and five years old can enter LBA for the chance to win a free ad campaign in their local paper plus mentoring support from local business leaders.

The most promising businesses will go forward to the national stage of the competition to win a year’s mentoring from Deborah Meaden and a local advertising campaign devised by a top London creative ad agency.

Smiley Booth was chosen as the winners to go through to the national stage of the competition, which was won by Ilkley Brewery in Yorkshire.

LBA national ambassador Deborah Meaden said: “With last year’s LBA having demonstrated the unique power of the local and regional press to provide a meaningful boost to promising young businesses, I am del- ighted to be supporting the initiative once again.”

Businesses can enter the competition via the LBA hub – accelerateme.co.uk – before the closing date of November 16.