Age Is No Barrier For An Entrepreneur’s Spirit

Birmingham Post.net:

One of Britain’s most successful entrepreneurs sails across the Atlantic, abseils down Las Vegas skyscrapers, and attempts to circumnavigate the globe in a hot air balloon – while running a £3billion business empire. But he is no fresh-faced 20-year-old.

For Richard Branson, his 58 years are an advantage on younger entrepreneurs, giving him wily life skills and an understanding of the world that an 18-year-old would struggle to match. Experts point out the need to harness the skills of “olderpreneurs”.

Indeed, most of our country’s finest entrepreneurs are over 50: Bernie Eccleston, 77; Sir Alan Sugar, 61: Duncan Bannatyne, 59, and Sir Philip Green, 56.

Yet there is still a widespread feeling that entrepreneurial spirit is synonymous with youth. And this is something which businessmen in the West Midlands are keen to challenge.

Research by the Prince’s Trust shows that while only 28 per cent of companies started by young people make it past the first five years, those businesses started by the older generation have a 70 per cent survival rate.

And last week the Business Secretary Lord Mandelson gave the Government’s backing to a new scheme aimed at encouraging the over 50s to get involved in business.

“There is no age limit on entrepreneurial spirit,” he said. “During the current economic climate it is even more vital that older people have the confidence to make their business ideas a reality.”

Photo by Rachel Kramer Bussel.

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