Over the years we have focused a lot on the next generation of entrepreneurs, but up until now we’ve been missing a trick. There is a wealth of entrepreneurial talent latent among the UK’s older people that is being left untapped. That’s why our latest Access All Areas report with Enterprise Nation focuses on ‘older workers’.
As the Chancellor said earlier this year: “No country can thrive if it turns its back on such a wealth of talent and ability. But for too many, turning 50 is a moment of anxiety about the cliff edge of retirement rather than a moment of anticipation about another two decades of fulfilment.”
The number of people aged 50 to 64 who are economically inactive grew from 3,267,000 in the first quarter of 2020 to 3,556,000 in the first quarter of 2023. That’s an increase of 289,000, or roughly equivalent to the entire population of the city of Milton Keynes.
We live in a free society (well, sort of), so if someone has the money to retire to play tiddlywinks every day there is nothing to be done; and we live in a charitable society (well, sort of), so we should look after those who are too ill to work. However, there are plenty of over 50s who would like to return to the workforce.
People like Cambridgeshire-based Chris Dunn, who set up his consulting business the day after his 50th birthday in 2014 following years of working in senior commercial roles across UK manufacturing and technology industries. “There are thousands of over 50s just like me who are not ready to retire but instead are actively supporting the next generation of business leaders by sharing their knowledge, skills, and experience in a variety of different ways,” he says.
The report has recommendations for government, business and older people. We think the government needs to improve support for older people who want to get back into work or self-employment and further reform childcare regulations to free up older people who are acting as carers. We think businesses should tackle ageism in the workplace and during hiring processes and consider allowing more flexible working arrangements for the people who need them. And we think older workers should consider entrepreneurship as an opportunity.
Compared to whippersnappers, older people can make great entrepreneurs because they have a wealth of experience, general skills, industry-specific knowledge, and strong networks. Little wonder then, that the average age of a successful startup founder is 45.
We often hear that it is ‘never too late’, but Henry Oliver is writing a book on late bloomers, or opsimaths, to show it to be true:
“Once you start looking, these people are everywhere. Siphiwe Baleka nearly became an Olympic swimmer aged fifty. He was denied the chance because of a technicality. Rani Hamid started playing chess aged thirty-four and became Bangladesh’s first International Woman Master. Frank Lloyd Wright did more than half his life’s work after the age of sixty-eight. Barry Diller didn’t work independently for the first thirty years of his career: then he took over QVC and became a phenomenal success. The philosopher Mary Midgley wrote her first book aged fifty-nine, saying, ‘I didn’t know what I thought until then.’”
As Emma Jones CBE concludes in her foreword: “Let’s capitalise on this moment and unleash the knowledge and productivity of these individuals back into the economy.”
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