When you hear the word entrepreneur, what kind of image does your mind conjure up? If it’s a Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook) look-a-like pouring out HTML code in an Ivy League dorm room, you’re probably not alone.
The Kauffman Foundation, have been dispelling the myth that most entrepreneurs are twenty-something tech wizards for some time. In reality, the highest rate of entrepreneurial activity belongs to the 55- to 64-year-old age group over the past decade. And most high-tech founders are well educated and married with children.
Australian professor Andre Spicer has offered an in-depth insight into entrepreneurship and its defining factors, including why entrepreneurialism is about the team rather than the individual.
According to Spicer, it’s important to move away from the idea of someone such Zuckerberg as the embodiment of a great entrepreneur because “that’s not reality”.
- Most people who are successful entrepreneurs are in middle age
- They start up a business in an industry which they’ve been working in for years; they know the ropes of the industry,
- It’s often not an individual, it’s actually a team of people.
When asked whether entrepreneurs are born or made, Spicer said a person’s background can often play a greater role than genetics, suggesting entrepreneurialism is somewhat circumstantial. “Having said that, there are some things that people try and do to kind of increase people’s ability to be an entrepreneur, things, I suppose, like creativity training,” he said. “But often… the more important things are just nuts and bolts stuff about running a going concern rather than some process of coming up with a brilliant idea.”
This is great news for all you baby-boomers (generation of people born during 1946 – 1964). This generation is most affected by the credit crunch, affirmative action and longevity. So what can you do?
SIMPLE!
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