Many experienced workers in the second half of life are joining the ranks of entrepreneurs rather than sticking with their current job or retiring. They’re using their experience, skills and creativity to start new enterprises and to embrace self-employment.
Where to find financing? The question is, how should 50-year and older entrepreneurs finance their startup? Getting access to capital to fund a new business is difficult for anyone. But older entrepreneurs confront the additional challenge that potential funders often see their advanced age as a negative.
The primary source of startup capital? Personal savings. Bootstrap finance. Rainy day funds. That’s right, founders typically finance their own startups, putting up 57% of the funding for nascent ventures, according to “Financing the Emerging Firm,” a 2012 paper that Gartner wrote with Casey Frid at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis and John C Alexander at Clemson University in South Carolina.
She left Cargill in 2013 and looked around at what to do next. Intrigued by the event-planning business, she initially volunteered for a well-known local planning company. She learned the ropes of event planning and in 2014, with the support of a mentor, launched 3E Productions: Engaged Energized Events.
In addition to running her own business, Ndupuechi is Chief Advancement and Marketing Officer at Women Ventures.