50+ Entrepreneurs Are Finding Funding

Helen Loveless wrote in the Mail on Sunday:

“As the recession bites, growing numbers of older workers who have seen their jobs disappear are starting their own businesses, often using their redundancy payouts as funding.

Figures show that entrepreneurs aged 50 and over were behind more than a quarter of all new start-ups launched in the first six months of 2009, with an estimated 200,000 firms set up by the over-50s since the onset of the credit crunch in August 2007.

Research by telecoms company O2 suggests that older entrepreneurs are finding it easier to access funding than others, with nearly 40 percent saying they had obtained bank finance. Two thirds believe their age helped them in this.

Nearly 70 percent of businesses run by over-50s operate from home. A quarter of bosses use smartphones to run their business, while one in five uses social networking sites such as Facebook to make contacts and find new business opportunities.

Tony Fraser, 50, is the managing director and founder of the Cornish Sea Salt Company, which sells hand-harvested sea salt. Tony set up the firm last year, after his interest in Celtic history led him to look into how the Cornish produced sea salt from their shores in times gone by.

‘As an entrepreneur in my fifties, I am enjoying more success now, towards the end of my career, than in any previous employment,’ he says.

The Prince’s Initiative for Mature Enterprise offers free information, events and training for over-50s looking to set up their own business.   Go go primebusinessclub.co.uk“