Lesson 2. Untapping the potential of senior entrepreneurs
- WHAT IS SENIOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP?
To the different types of entrepreneurship, mentioned above, we can add the concept of senior entrepreneurship, a term used to refer to individuals aged 50 or above (50+) who are planning to start a business, are currently in the process of starting one, or have recently started one.
Senior entrepreneurship is an opportunity to prolong working lives, reduce old-age unemployment and improve the social inclusion of older individuals. A senior entrepreneur is also known as: “older entrepreneur”; “third-age entrepreneur”; “grey entrepreneur”; “late-career entrepreneur”; “later-life entrepreneur”; “mid-career entrepreneur”; “olderpreneur”; “second-career entrepreneur”; “silver entrepreneur” and “switcher”. The existing data about senior entrepreneurship often includes information about self-employed seniors. In most cases, entrepreneurship and self-employment are used interchangeably. This makes this an extremely diverse group, that includes:
- people who have spent their entire career in self-employment.
- individuals transitioning into retirement by starting a part-time business.
- people who have had to start a business to earn an income, due to a lack of retirement savings.
As a senior entrepreneur, or someone who wishes to pursue an entrepreneurial career path, would you be able to answer the question: WHY? Why would I start my own business? The next video can help you understand why you need to have a clear answer to this question:
Simon Sinek, “How great leaders inspire action,” TEDxPuget Sound, 17:58, September 2009
https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action#t-158117
- LIST OF SENIOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP INITIATIVES AND PROGRAMMES
Listing all existing senior entrepreneurship initiatives and programmes would be a really demanding task that would need to be constantly updated. You can devise a plan to have relevant information to hand that can be helpful to your own professional interests and entrepreneurial career path. The EC Senior Entrepreneurship Good Practices Manual (2016)[1] is a resource you should explore closely. It provides relevant information about good practice in senior entrepreneurship.
In addition, an E-Directory is available in the SILVER UP Platform[2] that consists of an exhaustive compilation of cutting-edge practices, projects, policies, methodologies, approaches, resources, and tools in mentoring skills to support social innovation for senior entrepreneurs, at national, European and international level.
This E-Directory will help you to identify supportive environments, educational conditions and inspirational cutting-edge practices for the improvement of social innovation and mentoring skills.
[1] https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/8fdadabd-9ac8-11e6-868c-01aa75ed71a1