Entrepreneurship in Golden Years—Creative Opportunity or Not?

Abstract

Bachelor's Degree Program in International Business, Mikkeli, FinlandThe aim of this research is to increase understanding of older age people start-up initiatives and related policy opportunity for supporting older age people entrepreneurship. The study analyses in-depth four older age people (50+) intentions and items influencing their individual choice and opportunities to start a business of their own. The following questions were upraised: Why older people want to become entrepreneurs? What kind of factors may influence on the opportunity recognition and exploitation when the older people want to become entrepreneurs? How in practice the older age people entrepreneurship and start-up initiatives could be supported? Based on content analysis of four interviews it could be argued that there exist several reasons to be self-employed in older age. It seems that both pull and push factors simultaneously have an influence on becoming entrepreneur. The role of innovation and growth as the main sources and competitive advantages of business opportunities is very low.Secure and flexible self-employment is more important than providing jobs for other people. The building blocks of entrepreneurship in older age are life and work experience, longitudinally developed know-how, personal networks, flexibility, and current personal life situations. Moreover, social aspects such as belonging to a community and opportunities to create and maintain social contacts were found to be important drivers of entrepreneurship in golden years. Economic gains are upraised but not in the sense of the most important item of motivation to be self-employed and/or start a business in older age. The policy implication of the research widens the focus group thinking, portfolio of possible actions, and institutional development ideas in order to foster older age entrepreneurship locally and globally.