EUSTIS, Fla. — The UCF Business Incubation Program is expanding to Lake County. Wednesday, Eustis leaders and local business owners came together, celebrating the resource.

The program helps coach, mentor, and educate entrepreneurs.

What helped make this expansion a reality was an idea from a Eustis business.

“Economic development and entrepreneurship is that passion. We’re here to make that difference in people’s lives to advance businesses," said George Asbate, President of Mega Properties. "A lot are fantastic ideas and fantastic business people that need a platform to carry that forward."

The Eustis location is the ninth office in Central Florida, providing one-on-one coaching, as well as other tools to small business owners.

A new program to strengthen Eustis businesses is making sense to Mellisa McHaffie.

"My favorite scents are the fruity scents. So like, citrusy, I like pineapple, peach nectar to probably my favorite," said Mellisa McHaffie, Founder of Crafted Scent Bar.

Two years ago, she turned her love for candle-making into a successful business in the heart of Downtown Eustis.

"My main goal was to connect people again, to get out and connect again. It just made sense to teach them how to make candles," McHaffie.

Now McHaffie is taking her candle-making business to the next level. She heard about the UCF Business Incubation Program expanding into her backyard. With a new and needed resource in the community, McHaffie gave it a shot.

"UCF is really going to help me expand my business, get in front of those event spaces that bring their corporate teams to Orlando, I can do offsite events with the candle making. It’s going to be an experience that no one has ever seen before," McHaffie.

With this program being the first of its kind in Lake County, McHaffie believes this much-needed resource will not only help current small business owners grow, but future entrepreneurs get their foot in the door.

"It’s going to inspire people who were sitting and thinking of an idea. Thinking 'Oh it’s just Eustis, it’s just a little town, we don’t have the resources'. Now that we do I think that it’s really going to inspire a lot of ingenuity and new ideas to the city," said McHaffie.

As McHaffie pours her passion for teaching, she’s happy to switch places, learning what the UCF Business Incubation Program has to offer.

"I’m so excited and blessed