Entrepreneurship is blind. It cares not who or where someone has come from, only that they have a good idea, some capital, and a well-devised plan for future growth. Or so the message goes.
In reality entrepreneurship is blind, the same way golf is blind.
There’s nothing inherently elitist about the game itself.
Yet it still largely attracts middle to upper class white males between the ages of 30 and 80.
In October of this year, Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, reappointed 67-year old Mike Soden and 70-year-old Des Geraghty to the Central Bank Commission. At 71 years young himself, Noonan was keeping it real for septuagenarians.
Looking after the good old boys? Perhaps, but does the same behaviour happen at the other end? Of course it does. In 2007, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reported to have said to an audience at Stanford: “Young people are just smarter.”
The 2013 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report found that, regardless of the phase of economic development in a country, there were more early-stage entrepreneurs in the 25-34 age group than in any other age range.
This stands, in part, to reason. As the report states: “Young people are relatively likely to have fresh ideas”, to be “born-digitals” and in some societies to have received more education than their parents. They are less likely to have responsibilities like mortgages and families, factors that generally make individuals more cautious and risk-averse. Older people may be less open to new experiences and change.”
The report does go on to say, however, that older people are more equipped “to capitalise on relevant experience, contacts and financial resources built over long careers”.
Still ageism in business and entrepreneurship most certainly exists, particularly in sectors like tech and innovation, where the next big thing can become old hat overnight.
“Across Europe, the chances for older workers who lose their jobs in their 50s of regaining employment are very slim,” explains Ciaran McKinney of Age & Opportunity.
“Older workers don’t always qualify for the kinds of investments we put into younger people – promotions and investments in training. There’s an assumption that an older person will block change, which isn’t necessarily the case.”
Then there’s the potential extra cost of hiring someone older.
“What we have found is that once people hit 50, the challenge is not necessarily their age, but the cost of hiring an older candidate over a younger one is potentially a lot higher,” explains Sharon Hulce, CEO of Employment Resource Group. “The cost of health insurance, in particular, has hugely inflated in recent times.”
Move with the times young’un
Ageism in the working world generally is a cultural misconception which, ironically, hasn’t moved with the times.
“Bismarck introduced the state pension at age 70, because at that stage most people were already dead,” says McKinney. “Now most of us can confidently live into our 80s healthily.”
“People are living longer and have longer working life expectations,” explains Michael Flynn, director of Trinity College Dublin’s MBA programme.
In Ireland and elsewhere, there has been a rise in the number of start-ups by over 50s.
“Part of that has been an outcome of the financial crisis,” says Flynn. “People have had to make choices towards ‘forced entrepreneurship’, a relatively new phenomenon which really became important during the financial crisis. Instead of looking for a new job, people with redundancy packages have begun to look at starting their own business.”
Of all the industrial sectors, technology is one of the lowest areas for older people to start new businesses. “Partly because tech has a fast life cycle, and becomes obsolete very quickly,” says Flynn. “If you compare that to the food sector, you’ll find over 50s in start-ups is proportionately higher.”
Silicon Valley has been reported to be so brutally ageist that men and women in their late 20s and 30s are opting for plastic surgery now. “Silicon Valley is focused on creating start-ups that change everything,” explains growth hacker and star-up advisor, Paul O’Brien, CMO of MicroVentures (who recently left the Valley after 12 years, in part because he didn’t feel it was a good place to “settle down”). “To people there, short term interests are rather irrelevant.
“But the fact is younger people have far less to lose and far more free time to work with. So they’re able to innovate more quickly, not necessarily because they’re more sophisticated with technology.
“Younger people are happy to discuss everything, as they have nothing to lose. They’re not used to the old business models. They have the extra bandwidth, work at a faster pace, no families, and no other significant interests.
“It’s not that there’s age discrimination, but the characteristics of being younger in certain cultures enable start-ups in tech to be more disruptive and more scalable. If you’re 65, understand tech, are able to put in 10 hour days and talk about stuff, then there’s no reason why you couldn’t get what you need. People in the Valley are singularly focused on finding the right people at the right stage and it doesn’t matter if you have grey hair or blue hair.”
