Challenging the discourse: Scoping survey on the needs and motivations of female silver entrepreneurs

Figures from Eurostat (2020) show that the population of older people (aged over 65) in the EU-27 is expected to reach 129.8 million by 2050, by contrast there will be 13.5 % fewer people aged less than 55 years living in the EU-27 by 2050. While there are more older women than men, the ratio is expected to decline from 1.33 to 1.24 by 2050. Given the shrinking size of the working-age population and the growing number of older and very old people in society, one of the most pressing concerns for policymakers is to encourage older people to remain economically active. Inactivity in older age groups increases the strains on social security and pension systems,

Healthy older people have the skills, financial resources and time available to contribute to economic activity through extending their working lives. However, few are involved in entrepreneurship, particularly women, and their enterprises tend to be less growth oriented than firms of younger entrepreneurs. Therefore, this literature review, conducted by a student affiliated to the Horizon Europe GILL project, focussing on the needs of silver, especially female entrepreneurs is timely and highlights the urgent need for attention to this group and removal of intersectional biases in the Entrepreneurial and Innovation (E&I) Ecosystem.

Entrepreneurship has youthful and masculine tropes. The paper presents a scoping study of the research and grey literature, to find out more about the motivations and support needs of this group. Self-employment increases and supports active engagement and Maslow's higher order needs (e.g self-realisation, belonging) as well as providing financial security, In terms of gender, ageing and retirement threatens masculinity, but can be a time of liberation for women who 'may be' freed from some care and family related duties enabling them to pursue second careers or work in the informal economy, A key question is how can such women be supported in this journey - is it just about IT and financial support - how can we reduce the risk, the jargon and biases to make entrepreneurship more attractive to older female entrepreneurs an change the discourse and narratives around passive retirement