A donation to honour a late Blenheim-based farmer will support a young entrepreneur’s participation each year in the EPIC Founders program. The family of farming entrepreneur Juliana Verstraete has made a gift to support a female participant who demonstrates her hard work and dedication to a business.

The EPIC Founders Program, administered by the Entrepreneur Practice and Innovation Centre (EPICentre), is a 12-week intensive summer curriculum for UWindsor students and recent graduates. Participants learn to form their ideas into businesses, with executive and legal mentors from the community. Each enrollee receives $6,000 during the program period, while working 35 hours a week to fulfill program requirements.

Following her emigration from Belgium as child, Verstraete was an equal partner with her husband in a successful family farming operation located in Kent County near Blenheim. She died in February 2011, survived by five children including Roy Verstraete, a former president of the Anchor Danly Company and previous EPICentre executive leader, who will act as a mentor to the recipient during the course of the program.

More information on the Epic Founders Program can be found at: www.epicentreuwindsor.ca/applications-for-the-2015-epic-founders-now-open.