Never underestimate grandparents in your living room

by Sante Facchini

Almost everybody has good memories of the grandparents. Lovable people with white hair, telling their incredible life experiences and stories near the fireplace while petting the dog.

Famous grandparents petting their dog

Well forget this naif picture. Modern gramps & grannies in fact are another kind of people, at last for Barclays Business, that in their last report have find “Olderpreneurs” — over 55 entrepreneurs starting up new ventures — are on the rise.

The Bank has analysed their client base of more than 1 million businesses and found that, over the last decade, the over-55 running a company increased by a remarkable 63%. Just to give an idea, over the same period, the 25–34 group grew up at a rate of only 23%.

Even more impressive is the increase in the over-65 segment that has seen a grow-rate of 140% in ten years, being the best performing age group of the whole research.

This result give a new picture of elderly that is very different compared to the one of just few years ago. At an age that usually was the beginning of retirement now people set up new ventures, giving their experience and skills back into the market.

This new area of entrepreneurship could definitely represent an asset for the startup world and the investors should consider this dramatic change in such an important sector.

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Sante Dino Facchini
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