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Victoria women among Canada's top 100 entrepreneurs

Sylvie Rochette and Amelia Warren, the president and chief executive respectively of North Saanich-based Epicure Selections, are 20th overall on Profit and Chatelaine magazines' list of Canada's top 100 women entrepreneurs.

Sylvie Rochette and Amelia Warren, the president and chief executive respectively of North Saanich-based Epicure Selections, are 20th overall on Profit and Chatelaine magazines' list of Canada's top 100 women entrepreneurs.

"It's a sincere honour to be recognized as part of this prestigious listing with such an accomplished group of Canadian entrepreneurs and leaders," Warren said Tuesday.

Epicure Selections was founded by Rochette 15 years ago with four homemade spice blends sold at local farm markets.

Today, the company manufactures a range of food products and cookware and is one of Canada's fastest growing direct sales companies. It employs 145 staff at its facilities on West Saanich Road and has more than $50 million in annual sales, a 28 per cent increase over the past three years.

Epicure says it has 15,000 "social entrepreneurs" and 160 "home team members" selling its products across Canada. Warren noted the Profit magazine listing "reflects the hard work and dedication of everyone at Epicure."

Meanwhile, Mandy Farmer, chief executive of Victoria-based Accent Inns, was listed at No. 38 in the Top 100 list. Accent has hotels in Victoria, Vancouver, Burnaby, Kamloops and Kelowna, known for being affordable, modern and on an environmental and service cutting edge.

The operation has 170 staff and annual revenues of $10 million.