Challenges and Opportunities in Entrepreneurship

There are many reasons why startups don’t start, why startups don’t make a profit, why startups don’t survive, and startups fail. One of the most common challenges relates to managing the financing of entrepreneurial ventures, regardless of the entrepreneur’s age. Competence in accounting practices has been found to be a challenge for entrepreneurs aged 18 to 59 and an indicator of small business failure. Working capital has always represented a challenge for small businesses. Considering the impact of COVID-19, the lack of liquidity has become more difficult. While this is not the only problem, this challenge is likely related to the survival of the entrepreneurial venture.

A common challenge can revolve around stereotypical prejudice and especially entrepreneurs under 18 and even over 50. This type of bias can be an obstacle to those who want to become entrepreneurs because they do not fit the “mental model”. (of an entrepreneur’s appropriate age) Regarding both age groups, there is an increasing degree of interdependence among others. Particularly for entrepreneurs under the age of 18, parental involvement is likely to be higher. For those over the age of 50, there will probably be a higher relationship with children and even aging parents. In fact, empirical evidence is emerging about the U-shaped curve of age discrimination in the workplace. Until researchers investigate bias and stereotyping in entrepreneurship using age as a variable in addition to numerous studies investigating gender, this empirical work should be extended to entrepreneurial settings.

Younger and older entrepreneurs can use different sources. With regard to entrepreneurship, it has been found that the focus on opportunity seeking is central to entrepreneurship growth among 24 to 74 entrepreneurs. Generation Y among all generations is more interested in digital entrepreneurship than previous generations.

Regarding special opportunity clusters for entrepreneurs, it can be considered that young entrepreneurs have more physical resources such as enhanced cognitive functions and also less burdened with family and other responsibilities. As for older entrepreneurs, one might think that they have greater access to all types of capital, including financial, social and humanitarian. Mental health is a key moderator between the age of the entrepreneur and the focus on opportunities. Intergenerational entrepreneurship is another opportunity for entrepreneurs of all ages. This ranges from co-starting firms to intergenerational entrepreneurship training.

Entrepreneurship Ecosystem

The role of formal and informal organizations in shaping and supporting entrepreneurship is critical. Still, the type of support can vary, given the heterogeneity of entrepreneurs. Bohlmann et al. They found that entrepreneurs of different ages need different types of support. Also, the current entrepreneurship ecosystem has been criticized by Bohlmann et al. This criticism is that these programs do not fully take into account the needs and motivation of different ages.

Brieger et al. It recommends that high quality entrepreneurship support organizations provide services appropriate to specific life stages. For example, Gielnik et al. Based on their research on the role of mental health in maintaining a high focus on opportunities, they argue that policy makers should invest in maintaining or improving mental health and increasing learning and development opportunities targeted at senior entrepreneurs.

Research on Age and the Future of Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship research is increasingly taking a development approach. What’s more, research is increasingly looking at entrepreneurs aged 55 and over. Future research will ideally benefit from a range of theories, including developmental theories. Still, researchers have eleven theoretical perspectives to frame future research beyond developmental theories. The eleven perspectives include: negative relationship, personal health; hardness; time allocation; risk propensity; discrimination; positive relationship human capital; Social capital; financial capital; emotion; family obligation and gender stereotype.

Beyond the theoretical basis for future research, different research designs are proposed, including cross-sectional and longitudinal designs. Given the age and focus on entrepreneurship, cohort-based and panel research designs are also worth pursuing among future researchers. The challenge for researchers may be collaborating with researchers from other disciplines such as developmental psychology, family systems, sociology, and gerontology.

This line of research should go beyond age and also examine cohort effects by generation. Up to this point, such a research call has been made; It is critical for international entrepreneurship scholars to discover generation Y entrepreneurs and compare them across generations and countries. Intersectionality as a structure is guaranteed, especially given the social context of young and older entrepreneurs.

This research should be based on qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods and even use big data analytical models. Much of the research should be hypothesis driven, but not all of the research due to age and emerging aspects of the link between entrepreneurship and production and entrepreneurship. The following hypotheses represent a starting point to encourage researchers to contribute to the scarcity of aging and entrepreneurship. These hypotheses are by no means exhaustive, they are:

• H1: There are differences in entrepreneurial intention among entrepreneurs throughout the age span.

• H2: There are differences in entrepreneurial motivation among entrepreneurs throughout the age continuum.

• H3: There are differences in “push” and “pull” factors among entrepreneurs throughout the age continuum.

• H4: There are differences in venture finance opportunities among entrepreneurs throughout the age span.

• H5: There are differences in entrepreneurial exit among entrepreneurs throughout the age continuum.

Inclusive Entrepreneurship Education Matters at All Ages

It was previously stated that the ideal entrepreneur and most entrepreneurship training programs are not inclusive by age. In fact, they often target young entrepreneurs under the age of 30. Following this trend, there seems to be too much focus on weaving entrepreneurial education into primary / elementary and middle / high school, rather than mentioning colleges / universities. These efforts should continue, but should be extended to other age groups from the age of 30 to retirement age.

Indeed, if entrepreneurship educators offer an age-appropriate targeted entrepreneurship curriculum, this training should also include an intergenerational element rather than “segregation” of target audiences by age group. Nevertheless, given the unique challenges and opportunities faced by entrepreneurs at different ages and developmental stages, the case may be made for specific entrepreneurial education targeting specific age groups.

Targeting specific age groups or even generational cohorts can be further divided into types of entrepreneurs within a particular age group and generation cohort. As an example, it has been found that there are eight types of entrepreneurs in Baby Boom Generation (born in 1946 and 1964). This typology divides entrepreneurs into the following categories or types: new versus existing, new need for new opportunities, full-time versus part-time and merged versus non-legal entrepreneurs. “helping can be an effective strategy for our aging population.”