From Cradle to Grave: Recommendations for Age-friendly Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

Our research focuses on the aging and retirement of Main Street business owners, which start small, and likely stay small and locally focused. The average age of small business owners in many industrialized countries is on the rise, and the average term of business ownership is 30 years. We believe that entrepreneurial ecosystems are perfectly positioned to include aging business owners as key actors, but to date, they have not. We build on this idea and offer evidence through triangulation of workshop findings with themes from entrepreneurial ecosystems, resulting in four gaps in support: foundational resources, funding, events, and aging in one’s community. We hope that it will generate conversation, reflection, and actions resulting in age-friendly entrepreneurial ecosystems that serve the span between start-up and retirement.