is a “movement,”echarpalante.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/...engines-for-a-new-economy.pdf ·...

Senior Entrepreneurship Works is a “Movement,”

striving through education programs, policy, capitalization and

research to create a paradigm shift that recognizes the

Human Capital of Seniors as

Assets Not Liabilities

“New Engines for a New Economy”

Driving Social, Economic, and Environmental

Growth in Communities, the Nation, and the World.

Senior Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneuring Trumps Aging

Scope of Session

Overview of the social, environmental, and economic impact of senior

entrepreneurship in today's global “longevity economy” and what is needed to

create and sustain it.

Senior Entrepreneurship Today

Creating Senior Entrepreneurs – eProv Studio Workshops

Harnessing the individual and collective experience of older adults to

boost prosperity for all ages

Building an infrastructure of cross-sector support (programs, capitalization,

policy and research) to nourish and sustain senior entrepreneurship

Presenter

Elizabeth Isele

Co-Creator and Founder,

eProvStudio.com, Babson College, Wellesley, MA

Co-Founder and CEO,

SeniorEntrepreneurshipWorks.org, Baruch College, New York City, NY

Email: [email protected]

http://www.eprovstudio.com

http://www.seniorentrepreneurshipworks.org

mailto:[email protected]

Paradox of the New “Longevity

Economy” - Passive vs. Proactive

Passive: Seniors, aged 50+, as a $3 Trillion Market Opportunity

in the US - $15 Trillion Globally

Proactive: Seniors, aged 50+, Creating and Driving Economic

Markets

Seniors, aged 50+, as a Market Opportunity

Aging 2.0 – innovators, brand managers, marketers, and product designers,

who ignored this market for decades, now want a piece of the trillion dollar pie.

Products such as medical alert bracelets and adult diapers are palliative in

nature. They highlight and reinforce the debilitating effects of aging.

Passive Drivers

Innovation based on what can be sold to this huge and growing,

at 10,000 a day, demographic.

Product innovation aimed primarily at the older olds, age 75 and up.

Seniors, aged 50+, Creating and Driving Economic Markets

Proactive Drivers

Recent research in the United States from the MetLife foundation documents 34 million

boomers want to start their own businesses.

Contrary to a commonly held perception that only young people engage in business start-ups,

research by the Kauffman Foundation for Entrepreneurship has established that the highest rate

of business start-up activity over the past decade has consistently been among people

in the 55-to-64 age bracket.

According to the Kauffman Foundation's Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, 1 in 5 new

entrepreneurs in 2011 were aged 55-64; almost half of all new entrepreneurs were between

the ages of 45 and 64 and this cohort continues to grow.

The 2013 GEM (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) data documents that 50% of new

businesses launched by individuals aged 50+ are still in business after five years.

Contrast this to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Census which note:

"The typical new business started in the United States is no longer in operation five years

after being founded."

This is a highly creative, powerful, and extraordinary demographic – courageous, enlightened

and willing to fight for what they believe in. We need to unleash their potential.

http://www.kauffman.org/


Proactive Drivers (cont.)

Social Benefits and Economic ROI

Individual's health, well-being, and economic self-reliance.

Communities' (including employers') health and well-being as in Age Friendly Cities and

environmental health (boomers building green businesses), and Economic (workforce development,

job creation, improved productivity and wealth development as senior entrepreneurs pour

investment dollars back into their communities).

Rather than taking jobs away from the younger generation, they are creating jobs

for them and simultaneously boosting their local and our national economy. Often, too,

as this NY Times article, Retiree Start-ups with Age and Youth as Partners, indicates,

seniors are working hand-in-hand with the younger generation to create new businesses.

And, according to research from the AEO (Association for Enterprise Opportunity), if

one in three micro-businesses in the United States hired an additional employee, the US

would be at full employment (see http://www.oneinthree.biz).

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/10/business/retirementspecial/retiree-start-ups-with-age-and-youth-as-partners.html?pagewanted=1&ref=retirementspecial



http://www.aeoworks.org/

http://www.oneinthree.biz




Senior Entrepreneurs and employed adults, aged 65+, contribute $120+ billion in federal taxes*

annually to support federal programs and reduce dependency on entitlement programs.

Senior Entrepreneurs present new market lending opportunities for lenders.

New digital business opportunities. Increased demand for Technology (products, services,

e-commerce) to facilitate senior business startups.

More than 60% of senior startups are green businesses - huge impact on environment.

Intellectual capital: Engaging seniors in both business creation and in supporting new and

existing entrepreneurs would maximize the wealth of experience they possess that can be lost

on retirement, cultivate intergenerational learning and ensure knowledge transfer.




Collaborative entrepreneurship. Seniors, who may not wish to launch a business of their own,

represent a valuable resource for other entrepreneurs. Retired business people have precious know-how

and experience that can make it easier to start and run a company than it might otherwise be

for an inexperienced founder. We should be encouraging motivated seniors to serve as voluntary mentors,

potential buyers of or investors in businesses, or as temporary managers to assist vulnerable start-ups

or businesses in transition.

Senior Entrepreneurs are driving economic recovery in our communities and in our country,

and their experience, extensive networks, and problem-solving expertise mitigate the risk of failure

endemic among new business startups.

Today's Senior Entrepreneurs are creating a whole new paradigm for aging. The

world is beginning to recognize seniors as assets and not liabilities - and it's

not a moment too soon!

Creating Senior Entrepreneurs

A tool to ignite ideas through ET&A® (Entrepreneurial Thought and

Action) and Improvisation for seniors to re-imagine/renew their lives

rather than retire from them.

Shaping entrepreneurs of all kinds…

Courtesy, Mischa Richter

eProv Studio

and of all ages, with visions large and small!

eProv Studio

What Is ET&A® (Entrepreneurial Thought and Action)?

The world's most powerful force for social and economic value creation.

A dynamic methodology that was created and is being taught

every day at Babson College, the # 1 school of entrepreneurship.

It extends entrepreneurial activity to Entrepreneurship of All Kinds ®

to impact individual's lives, work and communities.

A method for creating the things that really matter to you by taking

swift, confident, and smart action when faced with the unknown.

It puts entrepreneurship in the hands of the many not the few.

What Is Improvisation?

Theatrical improvisation was developed to help actors solve problems on stage.

Rather than halting a performance because lines were forgotten, actors would improvise

(make-up) dialogue and the audience would not recognize any irregularity.

The focus is on creating scenes and building stories with very limited physical resources.

Successful improvisation actors understand the importance of

Listening to others without prejudgment

Trusting that the group (not the individual actor) will solve a particular problem

Building on a storyline in creative but useful ways

Letting go of the need to control a situation, and

Thinking quickly and acting under pressure to maintain momentum .

What Is eProv Studio Improvisation?

Using Improvisation to experience creativity and design thinking,

the eProv Studio "playshops” accelerate ideation.

The improvisers (eProv workshop participants) work together responsively

through a series of “Yes, and” exercises, providing constructive feedback,

identifying needs, and determining ways to help one another in

a process of co-creation.

Mary Catherine Bateson, writer, cultural anthropologist and daughter of Margaret

Mead, says in her new book, Composing a Further Life:The Age of Active Wisdom,

“that with its unprecedented levels of health, energy, time, and resources, aging today

is an improvisational art form calling for imagination and willingness to learn.”

http://www.amazon.com/Composing-Further-Life-Active-Wisdom/dp/0307266435/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271466655&sr=1-6

Building Confidence Through Improvisation

Improvisation requires one to create on the spot while being fully exposed.

Improvisation skills help to eliminate the fear factor, allowing ideas to flow freely

in order to create scenes and build stories.

Individuals who go through eProv training acquire a heightened sense of self

and a greater tolerance for failure.

Don’t let your fear of being wrong paralyze you. Thomas Alva Edison, inventor

of the light bulb, the motion picture camera, and the phonograph, among many

other things, did not think of his experiments in terms of success or failure, but rather

as learning. He conducted 10,000 experiments in his efforts to create the first

storage battery! “Results!” he said. “I have gotten a lot of results. The best part is that

now I know what doesn’t work and won’t have to be tried again.”

Building Confidence Through Improvisation

It takes courage to believe in your self, to start something new.

Thinking of courage reminds me of “The Wizard of Oz,” celebrating its 75th birthday

and record of the most watched movie of all time. I treasure this quote about the movie’s

cowardly lion from Mary Anne Radmacher, “Courage does not always roar. Sometimes

it is a quiet voice at the end of the day, saying…’I will try again tomorrow.’”

http://www.amazon.com/The-Wizard-Oz-Judy-Garland/dp/B00000JS62

http://inspiredbymaryanneradmacher.webs.com/

eProv Studio‟s Guiding Principles

Reality based - no rose colored glasses allowed.

Replace the noun entrepreneurship with the verb

entrepreneuring.

Take the intimidation out of entrepreneuring.

Anyone can become an entrepreneur – you don’t have to be born one.

Unleash the potential for everyone to create a more just,

equitable, and mutually beneficial civil society.

Entrepreneuring is not an individual sport – doing it in “community”

amplifies the results.

Potential never gets old!

Recognize there are many different kinds of entrepreneurs.

How Does eProv Studio Work?

– One Minute Snapshot

1. Know what you want.

2. Act with the means at hand.

3. Be alert and open to what is and what you are getting.

Make reality your friend and asset; build off what you find.

4. Take steps based on your means and what you can afford and want to pay

to play. It’s not what you’re going to do; it’s what you’re going to do next.

Spread risk and acquire resources as you go along.

5. Bring other people with you.

6. Remain flexible in what you want and how you do it based on your most

current insights, until you achieve your goal.

How Does eProv Studio work?

(Know Who You Are and What You Bring to the Table)

Identify Skills and Experience you can bring forward

from your 50+ years of living and working.

Identify one accomplishment /pivotal point from each decade of your life.

Prioritize those accomplishments.

Recognize skills you drew upon to achieve them.

Identify barriers you overcame and assets you had to help you overcome

them to achieve the breakthrough.

Look for patterns and relationships between what you have achieved and

what you desire to achieve in the future.

Decoding Your Entrepreneurial History Exercise

Resources – Using the Means at Hand

The Red Armchair, Picasso

Did you know that Picasso painted some of his masterpieces, like

The Red Armchair, with ordinary, commercial house paint?

How Does eProv Studio work?

Mine your hidden talents and explore the possibilities

with other players in this workshop.

Someone once said, “The greatest wastes are unused talents and untried ideas.”

eProv Studio’s “Yes, and” improvisation exercises help you unleash ideas you may have quietly

percolating on a back burner. Do you have a hobby, for example, that could be a good business venture?

Check out Stan Munroe, who’s rebuilding the world one toothpick at a time!

Pearl Malkin – Kickstarting Grandma!

Precious Costello Caldwell

Robert Gray

Mandy Aftel, perfume entrepreneur extraordinaire!

Judi Henderson Townsend - “Mannequin Madness”

http://www.mannequinmadness.com/

Jill Kerttula

Reconstructing Sweaters One Beautiful Stitch at a Time!

Paul Tasner - PulpWorks

Inez Killingsworth

Empowering and Strengthening Ohio's People

Joe James Agri-Tech Producers

"The Greening of Black America - A Rural Development Opportunity"

How SEW Is - and You Can Harness the Individual and Collective

Experience of Older Adults to Boost and Sustain Prosperity for All Ages

Energize entrepreneurial communities to foster an entrepreneurial approach to

economic development.

Create space in our economy and society for entrepreneurship and innovation.

Support the swelling numbers of self-employed, small and micro-business

startups in Puerto Rico which are driving a new round of economic and social

progress and prosperity.



Stimulate Robust Investment in Entrepreneurship Programs, Policy,

Capitalization, and Research

1. Public Funding

2. Leveraged Private Investment

3. Community Philanthropy

4. Impact Investment - For many impact investors, “impact,” especially early stage

investment, is the shortest line between capital and community. The growing field of

impact investing focuses on investing capital with the deliberate intention of achieving

both financial value (return on capital) and social value (positive impact on social and

environmental problems).



Proactively integrate innovators of all ages who are creating products and services

for the $15 trillion senior market with entrepreneurs aged 50+ who, in addition to

creating products and services for this ever expanding senior market, are also

creating new markets and asset growth to amplify the “Longevity Economy”.



Build new and innovative alliances among public/private stakeholders (including

those in this room) invested in the health and well-being of seniors to translate their

missions into socially and economically healthy communities – local and global.



Develop Entrepreneurial Education Programs –including intergenerational

programs.

Training

Mentoring

Shared Spaces

Incubators and Accelerators

Local, national, and international forums

Think Tanks for Cross-Sector Thought Leaders in the Senior Entrepreneurs

as “New Engines for a New Economy” Arena



Create New Methods of Capitalization for Boomer Business Startups.

Private Commercial Banks

CDFI Fund and Community Banks

Micro-lending – Accion and Kiva.org

Federal Reserve

US Treasury

Impact Investing

Private Loan Guarantees



Generate New Research Initiatives to document the social, environmental, and

economic impact of seniors contributing to our “Longevity Economy.”

Babson College

Baruch College

GEM

Stanford Center on Longevity

UNC Chapel Hill

Washington University, St Louis

International – Ireland, UK Prince’s Fund, Nesta.org, and EU Commission



Advocate for New Public Policy that recognizes older adults as assets and not

liabilities.

Local Puerto Rican Community Economic Development

National – US Senate Hearing and White House Initiatives

International – Ireland, UK Prince’s Fund, EU Entrepreneurship and their

2020 Strategic Plan

“It's time to stop the prevalent gloom

and doom attitude coursing through

the hallowed halls of Congress as senator

and representatives speak of the huge

demographic shift as a „silver tsunami.‟

We need to change that mindset by

recognizing that seniors are assets not

liabilities and, as such they represent

a 'silver lining, yielding golden dividends.”

Elizabeth Isele

[email protected]

Thank You!

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